Online
by Rachel the Fiend Hunter
Summary: Disassociated and socially awkward, Yukiteru doesn't branch out much in real life. Playing online while having anonymity lets him vent out his varying grievances (through yelling, getting angry, or letting off steam). After losing his last 'real life' friend, he finds someone new, through online gaming. Resolving to lie, rather than tell the truth for fear of losing this person.
1. Unending endurement

_I don't have friends. _The last person I called 'friend'- I lost today. It isn't because he moved, graduated, switched schools or died. What I had believed to be a 'friendship' was just a mockery, you see, behind my back he liked to make fun of me with all of his friends. I hadn't known this, until he decided to be upfront to my face. Not in the sense that he told me they all disliked me for being different. He was trying to make them laugh- knowing full well they didn't like me, and I didn't like them, by humiliating me. That was the last straw. I was tired of being mocked for not being the same as everyone else, what was so ideal about being 'normal'? Why be like everyone else, when you can be an individual? I'm sort of proud, for what I did to 'thank' him for the false 'friendship'. Something in me just snapped, my hands balled into fists, eyes narrowed, and I shouted out at him every last thing that had annoyed me through the years of enduring through his company. "God, do you morons ever grow up!? I mean, all you do is pull the same stupid, immature pranks that nobody gives a damn about! You look to the other idiots in your group to make sure they're laughing with you- because you're all so stunned and stupid you may as well have a few extra chromosomes!" the shock on his and the clique he called 'friends' face was priceless, but I didn't stop there. And maybe I should have. I don't exactly regret what I said, but it did land me in the counselor's office, only after I explained to the principal the current situation, so he wouldn't call my parents. He did believe me, because of the fact that my school record doesn't have any strikes against it. In fact, I think this was the first one.

"Yukiteru Amano." my guidance counselor folded her hands neatly, smiled at me with what wasn't exactly a false sense of kindness, atleast..not that I could tell. "You had an outburst today, may I ask why?" I stared at her name plaque while she spoke to me, trying to summon up some form of an answer. Maybe it had been from accumulated years of bullying from elementary school, middle school and now into highschool. People didn't like me and why, I didn't know. In the very beginning, I had tried to make friends, be friendly..but somehow they all decided that I was beneath them. It hadn't attributed to my social skills, or lack thereof. My attention was forced from my thoughts as she cleared her throat in a polite manner, and repeated the question.

"I.." I finally began to speak, my former bout of being abrasive was clearly gone, as I was nervous to speak with her. I always had anxiety when it came to these kinds of things, speaking to adults/faculty at school. "thought he was my friend, but he decided to throw me under the bus so him and his herd of annoying friends could get a few laughs." I didn't know what else to add after that. After a bit of silence, and her obviously waiting for a bit more elaboration, I began to speak again "I got sick of being treated like dirt. Of being looked down on, for being different." I couldn't exactly just start spouting off about all of my issues, because that's just not the way that I am. But I did give her enough to go off on, to know about the situation. I fidgeted with my hands, because she was making me nervous.

She nodded calmly to me, continuing to smile, "Bullying is something that isn't tolerated here at this school, Yukiteru. If you had told us about this sooner, we could have handled it. But I can still help you, switch your classes so that you and he- or any of friends won't be in the same classes, if that helps at all?" she asked, "You know, if you ever need help with any personal matters, you can always come to me, right?"

"I didn't come to anyone, because..I thought I had a friend, someone to talk to, who at the very least got me on some level. I didn't think that I'd be betrayed by him, maybe I was just a little too naive to believe someone would befriend me." I sighed, "I think..I'd like for my classes to be switched around." not saying a word about her confronting them, because I knew it was useless. Something about me, just always made teachers want to defend me. _Maybe I was just weak. _They saw me as some frail boy, an outcast who always needed to be sheltered, because I didn't speak my mind about things. At school, I was a docile, 'kind' person who didn't fight back. People called me all sorts of things behind my back, whispered things about me, spread odd rumors and tried everything to make me miserable.

_Maybe they succeeded._ I was miserable, beyond all relief. Sitting in the halls at lunch, alone, reading books or sometimes actually eating my lunch, while select few faculty saw me and decided to strike up conversation about varying things I had little interest in. The vice principal had semi-startled me, by saying that he knew exactly who I was. This ordinarily wouldn't be such a peculiar thing- save for the fact that there were a few hundred students in the school, and he knew _me. _Explaining he knew that I had more than a few 'absences' from school, and that I needn't worry because he wasn't there to talk to me about that. _I wasn't worried. _In fact, I found it hardly any of his business or concern that I skipped school. Being forced to delve into subjects one didn't really care about, or wouldn't necessarily 'need' in the real world, I didn't feel the need to learn. Omitting the fact that I didn't have friends, or a support group of any kind, I disliked school. It was something I had to endure through, just until graduation so I could finally be free. But that was still a while away.

Going home at the end of the day was a god send, it meant that I no longer had to deal with the immature and bratty antics of boys from school. That I wouldn't have to listen to more arrogant/conceited rants about how I'm different and below just about every person at the school. Sometimes, I didn't know how I'd survive through school, I was fed up. My mom wasn't home when I came back, so I went straight to my room and plopped my things down, doing the one thing that somehow made the rest of my disagreeable days pass by- turn on my gaming console. _Biohazard 5 _the new zombie game I'd begun to play, and quickly excelled at. Playing the versus mode on the game made it a whole new experience, considering the fact that I'd never heard so much profanities in my entire life. If you won, people were very likely to say they did varying sexual acts with one of your parents, that you should kill yourself, or you somehow cheated at the game. I was still an amateur at the game, but I did understand the basic principals of the 'slayers' mode that I usually played. Big kill count, large sum of points. You could kill the other players, or leave them alone and kill the zombies instead. Most 'friendly' players liked to pull a gun behind your head and fire away. It only served to make me weary of the overpowered characters, killing and letting them bleed out was something I'd gotten the hang of. Letting them cry out for their partner to help, that never came.

A player I disliked joined the lobby. I remember his gamertag, _Akise Lavigne17 _originally, he was on the yellow team, just to fight me for a revenge win. Two other people joined, and forced him to switch on my team. They used overpowered characters that most were afraid of, the two male characters, while we picked the women. His was for comboing, mine was for the same, albeit she was a bit more combat capable because of her high damaging weapons for both the infected and players. He invited me to a party, and I joined, this person was afterall a 'friend' of a 'friend'. It was a humorous situation, I had no friends in real life, but an abundance of them online. "Hello?" I asked, with the confidence I lacked in school and anywhere else.

"Just keep the combo so we don't lose." he was short, and to the point with me. Maybe he still didn't like me, and that was just fine.

"Don't hinder me and lose the combo. I'm not about to lose just because I had to carry someone to victory." I arrogantly scoffed back at him, as the game started and we started out our small combo. He was using his sniper, killing off a few, we nearly lost it only at the small number of 5.

"You act as if you'd be the one _carrying _us to victory." he snapped back at me, "Keep it!"

I used my shotgun to quickly kill one, the combo was getting harder to keep as one of the opposite team began to steal my kills. "I have nothing." I said shortly, seeing the other player go for the boss zombie kill. I did the obvious thing, shot him twice at close range to get him dying, stole the kill and brought us in the lead. His partner began saying promises of saving him, while his character began to ask how he'd failed to help. The moment he respawned, he thanked in an effort to taunt me. I returned it, and continued to kill zombies until he came back.

"Nice." a somewhat praise from 'Akise'. Whether that was actually his name, or not, I didn't know.

I was shot by the other player, gaining a large amount of damage, fortunately I landed a close-range shot, we both used our shotguns and brought the other into dying. "Akise, keep the combo."

He couldn't. Our 40 combo died, and the other team taunted us, as theirs too died. "I couldn't. The other one is attacking me now." he was definitely irritated, I could hear the many electric blasts rather than see them. The other two players were ganging up on him, so I went to help. We managed to kill the pair of them, with quite the struggle. He healed us in front of them, my character saying 'Thanks' which they obviously took as a challenge to attack us again. We ran, and did our best to keep a combo, they followed us at every turn, and did get us dying. Taunting us, until our characters died, once we respawned, we resumed our combo. They were in the lead by 20,000. "Hang on." he grabbed a 'combo time' which gave us 1000 points per kill after we started a combo.

"We've got this." I said, not about to lose. We killed all of the zombies we could, trying to keep a decent combo, the other team came back to kill us, and we managed to deal with them once again. An extra 4000 points for killing them, as the game ended we _barely _won by a few hundred points. I exhaled a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, my hands are shaking from how deep I got into the game. It wasn't hard to see how poor-sporty people could be about these things.

"Nice work." he praised me again, in the same manner.

"You too..." unsure of if we still hated each other, or not. If he was going to kick me from the party, as it was just uncomfortable silence. _Akise Lavigne17 wants to be your friend. _As the notification popped up, I paused for a moment, before accepting it.

"We make a pretty good team- Misaki." Akise praised me.

I used an entirely different name for my online gaming, to keep as much distance as possible from the people I met. "Yeah, we kinda do." although we'd gotten off on the wrong foot at first, we certainly did do pretty good together.

"How about a few more rounds?" he asked, waiting for a reply.

"Sure." I was up for it, I had nothing else to do. Over the course of a few more matches, some wins and losses, we began to talk about varying things. I learned that his name was actually 'Akise' and when he asked me mine, I just gave him the response of 'call me Misaki'. Having online friends was different somehow, easier. If they knew the real me, they'd obviously not be friends with me at all. That was my resolve, to lie to my new 'friend'. Eventually, we did part ways because he had to go. It left me a bit disappointed, but excited at the thought of playing with him again tomorrow.


	2. A moments reprieve

The day had started absolutely like any other, in a half-state of 'consciousness' not quite awake nor asleep, Yukiteru sat calmly. Aware of every breath he took, but not able to open his eyes and overcome his current predicament. "Yukiteru.." he felt the gentle nudge and soft voice of his mother, "Yukiteru." this time, Rea Amano had been far more insistent in waking up her son. Yuki's eyes shot open, as he glanced at his smiling mother, "It's time for school, Yukiteru." she said, "Well, time to get _ready _for school, anyway. I'll have breakfast ready by the time you come down, okay?" she asked, knowing full well it took a few moments for her son to fully wake up. She didn't want him to be grumpy, like the boy sometimes could be, so she did her absolute best to be gentle with him.

Yuki yawned, trying to clear the haze that waking up often left behind, it took him a few minutes of constant struggles between trying to keep his eyes open- them fluttering shut and startling himself back awake before he found the resolve to get up. Being that- he did the absolute unthinkable that always ensured a person to get up: he kicked off the blanket and was jolted awake by the startling cold. He shivered for a moment, before standing up, a shudder as he walked to the bathroom. A quick glance over of his features showed that he had in fact been tossing and turning during his sleep- his hair was all over place. Whether it was a nightmare or not, he couldn't exactly tell. While he didn't doubt that he 'had' dreams, because there was that period of time that one slept where everything- when tried to be recalled was just a 'black' darkness of sorts, you had to be dreaming, didn't you? First thing was first, he used the toilet, brushed his teeth and stripped before stepping into the shower. That was one of the most enjoyable parts of the morning, the reprieve that came from standing under a running shower head, the cascading hot water that somehow had the ability to sew the life back into you. Also to give you 'thinking' space while the sweet smells of the varying soaps/shampoos/conditioners you used all blended into one from the steam. He had been dreading this day- and looking forward to it.

The dread had come from the fact that he would have to inevitably face his tormentors once more. It gave him a slight form of anxiety, the thought of having to face a group of people alone. That one form of defiance that had landed him into his Guidance Counselor's office had definitely been a fluke and he doubt he could replicate the process at all. But, one thing he did look forward to- was speaking to his new 'friend'. How peculiar it was that one day a person could utterly hate you, despite never even seeing your face, just hearing your voice, and assuming that the mannerisms you used were ones you had on a daily lifestyle. He wished he was as mouthy and abrasive as his alter ego gaming counterpart was- but sadly, he was just "Yukiteru!" the sound of his mother calling almost made him slip as he tensed and barely had time to grab the shower bar for support. His mother rather enjoyed his docile, 'timid' and shy nature. It wasn't that Yuki particularly despised it himself, moreover just the fact that sometimes he'd like to be a little more open about his opinions. To not care what people personally thought about him, it would make his life a whole lot easier.

Sighing, Yuki shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, he quickly dried himself off and got dressed for school. He gathered his things, rushing downstairs and joining his mother for breakfast, he wore a brave smile, just for her. Despite all of his school troubles- the bullying, the anxiety, the endurement and sadness, he just couldn't involve her in such things. She had so much more to worry about, just from the fact that she was a single mother who was trying to raise her son on a fixed income. It hadn't helped, that his father had abandoned the both of them when he was young, but his mother didn't seem to hold any form of malice toward the man- at the very least, she never openly declared such things. And Yuki didn't either, he adored his father and would do anything he asked of him, simply because he craved that love. His father's love was something he had always desired and, somehow- always felt like he could never have enough of. Whether he was 'greedy' about it, or because his father was actually a little more relatively 'distant' when it came to him- he didn't know. But his feelings made it fairly clear that he did feel 'neglected' when it came to his father.

"Yukiteru." Yuki immediately looked up at his smiling mother, a questioning look on his face as Rea continued to smile kindly at him. "Is something on your mind? You seem to be zoning out a little more than usual, today. Are you sick? Would you like to stay home?" Rea touched his forehead to make sure he didn't have a fever of some sort, Yuki shut his eyes for a moment, smiling as he opened them and shook his head. The motherly concern on her face and tone of voice was always a welcomed gesture to him, though he did crave his father's love- he also enjoyed every shred he got from his mother, Rea Amano. Though it could sound even more selfish- he wasn't satisfied by that, alone. He wanted someone else- someone..who could understand him, who didn't have to get every single issue he had, but for someone outside of his family to say; I understand. To get over his many faults, to form a bond of companionship, friendship, a relationship of any kind- so long as there was a form of 'love', there. Regardless of if it was romantic, or not. He just didn't want to worry his mother anymore, she seemed to be a little bit..'concerned' about his lack of friends, though he did assure her he was perfectly alright.

"I'm fine." at this point, he had realized he zoned out once again forgot to answer his mother. "I'll go to school today, so don't worry, mom." though there was an increasingly deeper form of turmoil brewing from inside of Yukiteru, he wouldn't dare to trouble Rea with it. She wouldn't understand. _No one understood. _For now, that was just the way that things worked, and he was okay with it.

"Alright." Rea nodded, "Eat your breakfast, and I'll drive you." she promised.

"It's okay- I'll..bus for today." Yuki ate his pancakes, noticing the worried look Rea sent his way. "It's okay, really." he smiled, trying to sound confident, "You're busy today and you need to get to work. I can handle the bus ride."

"If you're really sure..." Rea studied her son carefully, "Okay." she agreed, cleaning up their breakfast dishes, "Your lunch is on the counter."

"Thanks." Yuki smiled, as he grabbed it and quickly stuffed it into his backpack, along with his many textbooks he needed for the semester. Two, just for Science. A pretty thick one, for math. And another for English. It had been mandatory they take up another language because apparently saying to someone 'Hai mai naimu izu' was greatly 'inappropriate' in this day and age. But there had been several different benefits to learning English, (though he had had a very rough start, he actually started to get the hang of things, even to the point of conversing with native speakers.) as lots of parts of the world all spoke English, save for a France and a few other places. Yuki quickly left, and caught the bus just in time, none of his classmates were on it and he sighed of slight relief, that is- before one by one they came on and glanced at him for a moment. It scared him, being stared at like some sort of science project, so he sat completely still and straight, until their eyes flicked past him. Maybe he was just being overly cautious or overthinking things, but that was just how he was when it came to these kinds of things. He waited out the 40 minute bus ride and was the first off, striding into the school, directly to his first class. It was cooking, an 'easy A' and one where while he didn't have friends- some people would be paired with him. He wondered what the lesson for today would be, while sitting at his table and opening a book. His teacher came in and smiled while saying hello to the outcast, Yuki returned both gestures and went back to his reading, and examined the 'lesson plan' written on the board, it seemed they were making a custard pudding with caramel sauce on top of it. While it sounded fairly complicated, the ingredients weren't all that much and Yukiteru had a small advantage- his mother had taught him how to cook. Well, it was basic things, but she did teach him to make this very thing.

The very first arrival at his table had been Mao, she was a nice and timid girl who seemed to be friendly with everyone, and he secretly held out hopes she would be his partner. "Morning, Yukiteru!" she smiled, sitting opposite the boy.

Yuki blinked in surprise, "Good morning.." he said semi-awkwardly, "Y-you can...call me 'Yuki'- if you like." he added in sheepishly. Though he knew she could be friendly from seeing her a few brief times around school, why would the girl choose to speak to him at all?

"Okay, Yuki." Mao continued to smile and nod, "Are you new to this class?" she asked.

Yuki nodded, "How did you know my name?" he asked, wondering how she could have known that simple fact but not that he'd transferred into her class.

"You're kind of famous now, you know?" Mao offered up the fact nonchalantly, "For what happened yesterday."

"Oh.." Yuki's cheeks twinged red at the mention of yesterday's fiasco. "I...see."

"It wasn't nice what those people did to you." Mao frowned slightly, "I heard about it from Kousaka and he seemed to enjoy the fact that the other boys were torturing you." her facial expression made it very evident she didn't care for bullying or what they had done to Yukiteru in general.

"Oh.." Yuki's smile faded ever so slightly, she was friends with Kousaka? Then, they very likely wouldn't stand a chance at all in becoming friends. "He doesn't like me, at all. So it really..isn't surprising he's laughing about something bad that happened to me." he gauged her reaction to see if she truly was friends with Kousaka, or had just heard an odd fact from him.

"He doesn't like anyone much." Mao nodded, "I'm not friends with him." she promised, "And I didn't laugh at all."

"Well, thank you..." Yuki smiled again, he felt semi-embarrassed a person he didn't even know had 'defended' him- in their own way. "If you know who I am..why would you talk to me?" he asked, not trying to be offensive at all.

"We're all different, and we all have to go to the same school, why shun someone just because 'everyone else does it'?" Mao asked, in her own way, she countered his statement.

"I..don't know." Yuki answered truthfully, "My whole life it's just been that way. I've always been the 'odd one out'."

"Well, in this class- you're not." Mao smiled, "He was a close friend of yours before what happened yesterday, right? How about..we become friends?" there wasn't even the slightest bit of hesitation, reluctance or malice in her voice, at least from what Yukiteru could tell, and so he felt like he could at the very least _try _on the offer she gave him.

"Okay!" Yuki didn't try to seem overeager, but he had lost his only friend and at the rate he was going, a new one- even a false one would be an improvement. Sad, right?

"How about we partner up for this one, too?" Mao asked, glancing at the board, "I can't promise I'll be any good at it..but I'll do my best!" she vowed.

"Sure!" Yuki nodded, how lucky was he? Someone wanted to be his friend, and his partner? He didn't have to go through the anxiety of waiting to not be picked, or paired up with someone just because of the fact that they didn't have a partner to be paired with. For once, someone picked him first. It left him with an odd feeling, one he hadn't really experienced before. "M-my mom, actually..she taught me how to make this kind of thing, so, I think we'll be okay!" he didn't look at her while he said it, rubbed the back of his head and blushed lightly. This was kind of a 'gray area' to him.

"Sounds good!" Mao agreed, "I'll be counting on you, Yuki."

Yuki nodded, "Okay." he agreed a little more relaxed this time, he'd do his best and show his new friend how useful he could be. The rest of the class promptly came in, some early, others after the warning bell and some came late because they loved to test the limits of their teachers. He found the notion ridiculous, most came in and declared that they were late because they 'forgot their textbook' or didn't make it to their lockers because of the fact that 'they were talking to their friends'. Maybe it was because he didn't have friends, maybe because Yuki didn't really care about their reasons for tardiness or excuses of why they had to shuffle off into the hallways once more to come back 5 or 10 minutes later with what they requested. His teacher looked completely not amused at it either.

"Some people sure do love to waste time, don't they?" Mao asked, as she began to copy down the recipe, the ingredients, the cook time and everything else the teacher offered up to them for the 'demo'.

Yuki nodded, "I don't understand it." he admitted, while writing everything down quickly and sighing contently once he finished.

"Shall we, Yuki?" Mao asked, as she and he put on aprons for their lab.

"Sure!" Yuki smiled and nodded, they followed their teacher's lead and carefully it all came together fairly well. They'd have to wait until the next day to try them out and see if their recipes were actually like they were meant to be, or if they'd fail the lab and have to redo it.

"I think we did good." Mao said, as they did the dishes and promptly cleaned up their area.

"Me too." Yuki agreed, drying and putting away the varying items they had used. They both cleaned up the kitchen quickly and thoroughly, so much so that the teacher specifically praised them and let the two out early.

"I have to get going to my next class, Yuki- it was fun working with you, and I hope we could do so again." Mao smiled, and waved 'goodbye' as she walked away.

"Yeah, me too..." Yuki mumbled, as all happiness within him boiled away to nothing. He had to face the fact that he was alone, for the rest of the day. Sighing, he took it all in stride, Math, Gym, English and finally; home. Exhausted, he walked upstairs and tossed his jacket onto his floor, turning on his console and instantly getting a 'party invite'. He joined it gleefully, excited at the fact that the part of his day he'd long waited for was finally here. Especially because it was the weekend and as far as he knew- he and his new friend could 'hang out' (play video games) for the entirety they had left. "Hello." he said, once more filled with the confidence he had while under the guise of being 'Misaki'.

"Hello, welcome back." Akise said coolly, "Which game shall we play?" he asked.

"Well, it depends on what you want to play." Yuki didn't want to seem overeager, but he was more than willing to play anything with his new friend. Well, if he had the game that is.

"Hmm." Akise seemed to ponder it for a moment, "Biohazard?" he asked, it had been the game that the pair of them met on, and he wanted to become better at it. Sure, the two of them together could work efficiently, but they needed to work on teamwork. Half the time, they couldn't even split up just because of the fact that other teams loved to gang up on either or while they were busy trying to keep a good combo.

"Sure." Yuki readily agreed, the two of them going on the game, "Should I host- or you?"

"I'll do it." Akise resolved to be the one to host, the two of them were new players anyhow, so they were the ones 'picked off' so to speak by veteran players. He hosted, 'Misaki' joined, and two other players. While they played, Akise decided to engage in small talk, "So, anything interesting happen today?" he asked, while progressing their combo to 40.

"I made a new friend..?" Yuki offered up, as he continually tried to build up their score. The other team had a decent score, but it was uneven- and that was how you knew they didn't have a combo. At the very least; not a good one.

"You make it sound as if you don't have any..?" Akise wasn't fishing for more information, but his companion definitely sounded a little 'longing' in that area.

"Quality over quantity." Yuki said, "I actually, only had one friend..up until two days ago, and today.. I made a new one."

"Glad to know I was 'nobody'." Akise joked slightly, as he chuckled over his headset.

"It's not like that." Yuki shot down his assumption, "You're not 'nobody' I guess I just meant 'in real-life'." he said.

"Never been one to make friends in 'real-life'?" Akise asked, he found the situation curious. His companion hadn't really revealed much of anything in their previous engagements.

"No." Yuki sighed, agreeing as he worked hard to keep the combo, their conversation was distracting.

"Well, you've got me, don't you?" Akise asked, "And anyone else you may have on here, I suppose." he mused.

_You've got me..._Yuki didn't know why, but that alien statement gave him an ominous feeling. "Yeah, I guess so." he nodded, as if Akise could physically see the action. He began to listen to music while they played to further his focus.

"Well, it is true." Akise said, as they won their match, "Oh- I have to get going."

"Okay." Yuki felt utterly disappointed, they'd barely been able to play.

"Don't get too sappy on me, Saki. I'm just going to be right back in a while." Akise said, "I will be back, promise. Later."

"Bye.." Yuki waited for him to 'go' and then sighed.

Akise pondered the current facts he found out about his new friend, an outcast who enjoyed playing online just because he needed to know what it was like to have a friend? What a sad thing. He didn't want to pity his friend, as he didn't think Misaki would want that, at all. Maybe he'd start shouting like he did to people they played with, or about the game in general when things looked bleak for them. A humored smile spread across his lips, he definitely liked his new companion, though he was short tempered- he definitely made things far more interesting. Never before had he met such a person, and he hoped that this 'friendship' was sure to last, however long it did.


	3. Sorry for the wait

Akise pondered going back on his console, but he doubted highly that his friend was on. It wasn't that he didn't have other 'friends' that came online to play and interact with him- but, after meeting 'Misaki' he found no longer an interest in the others. But it seemed every single time he tried to go back on it- a whole new occurrence happened that his parents wouldn't allow it. It wasn't as if they were overly strict toward him, in fact- it was quite the opposite. They were pushovers who tended to enable him to do whatever he wanted throughout the day. So long as he passed his classes, showed up at school from time to time- they were happy. Albeit his mother had been terrified when she learned about him being a 'junior detective' with the police force, but after seeing how much her son had wanted to be a part of it- she had caved.

So, the fact that she had said 'no' in a beat around the bush fashion- it had been relatively important to her. And as such, it was 'important' to him by proxy. A small sigh escaped from his lips as he absentmindedly began to scribble on his notepad of varying things he began to see about the scenery, a woman arguing with a man who could very likely be a husband or a boyfriend, a toddler sobbing while a parent or guardian of some sort began to try and soothe it in vain. A run away dog who seemed very contented in the fact that it had alluded its master for the time being, a man sprinting after it in desperate attempt to recapture the creature. It offered a distraction; a small escape from his reality for the moment, he wasn't one to daydream often as he was often serious and he needed to be focused on the task at hand- but right now...all he felt was the overwhelming desire to speak with Misaki again.

"Akise." at the mention of his name, he stopped all things he was doing and stared up at his mother. Getting her son's attention, she began to speak with him, "Are you alright? You seem a little distracted right now."

"I'm fine, mother." Akise assured the woman, smiling ever so slightly, "You don't have to worry about me." he let out a humored chuckle, for a moment he believed himself to be in trouble over something. But that was a rare occurrence in itself; his parents weren't the type to relentlessly 'punish' him- and even if he were to be punished for some reason, all they would do is tell him he couldn't work on his current 'case'. It was most likely because of the fact that they knew it was the only thing that mattered to him. He constantly talked about it, mused over varying clues and suspects- nothing that was _confidential _or if it was he'd omit names to keep anonymity and ensure his parents stayed 'ignorant' but also had a keen knowledge on what he was doing. In part because they had made that sensible demand of him from the get go.

"Is it a case that you're working on?" she seemed relieved at her son's statement. Very rarely was he distracted, and though he hadn't mentioned a case she felt the need to ask.

"Not currently. Well, I suppose you could call it 'unofficially'?" Akise asked in his usual round-about manner. "It isn't exactly a 'case' in the sense that I'm working side by side with a detective, so much as a 'solo indulgence' I suppose it would be classified under?" he didn't know how else to phrase it, but he waited to see if that satisfied his mother's curiosity over the matter.

"Oh?" she asked, "Well, what is it?"

"I can't tell you." Akise said with a secretive smile, "It's something interesting that I don't think you'd really care for in general. Not as in you'd be afraid for my safety and well-being, more that it isn't generally your...cup of tea so to speak." he explained.

"I'd still like to know." she was adamant on that fact alone.

"I met someone interesting a few days ago, and I'm slowly beginning to learn things about him. Although I can't exactly explain it- I feel as though I should be focusing all of my time on them." Akise said, it had been a rather peculiar feeling in itself; speaking to Misaki just made him feel..._different_.

"A girl?" his mother seemed very keen on that fact, she was much more interested now. "Are you in love with someone?" she asked, the question lingered in the air as she waited for her son to respond. How odd, she didn't think he thought of people like that. In fact, most of the time she worried about her boy- what if he had been one of those...what were they called? A-sexuals? He didn't seem to much have a fondness for girls or boys, save for the police force and that was more in a 'respectful' manner rather than 'romantic'. And if her baby boy did feel an attraction to any of the officers she'd pull him from his detective duty's so fast...

"No- not a girl." Akise shook his head, immediately dashing the hopes of the woman. But her smile didn't fade, as he was getting an interest in _someone_, _anyone_. "I don't know if I would term it as 'love', being as I've never met them face-to-face."

"Do you at least know his name? His age..? Personality?" she didn't know what exactly a person could know about another if they didn't speak to each other face-to-face. It was odd to her, how could he find someone, well.. "But you definitely like him, right?" she asked, trying to assure herself.

"Misaki. About my age." Akise paused at the next question, "_Interesting _in simplest terms. He has a very..rash and abrasive personality, loud and not afraid to speak his mind...but that's something I kind of admire. Not to mention the fact that he does from time to time tell me a small tidbit about himself." was she trying to insinuate he wanted to date this person? "You could say that I 'like' him." he didn't deny it, in fact he readily agreed to that fact. He wasn't sure enough about the situation on whether or not to call it 'love' but it was a definite 'like'. Though they initially hadn't gotten along- he and Misaki were already beginning to bond and speak semi-intimately. He chuckled, thinking about when he had heard Misaki's mother chide him about 'leaving his porn out' as 'someone could trip, fall and die under the occurring avalanche'. In a stunned silence, they sat until Misaki continued on conversation like nothing had happened. Out of curiosity, Akise had asked about why he left out what he assumed to be what one would call 'old-fashioned' pornography, which were 'books/magazines' what have you, for his mother to see. Misaki had said she knew about it and he found absolutely no need to hide it, as she'd find it anyway and tease him about it. To which he could only reply with what a progressive mother he had.

"Well..it is a little...unorthodox, but..I'll take it." she patted his head, seeing how 'anxious' she supposed she could put it, he was about going off to 'see'? That person again. "Go on ahead, I'll finish up my errands on my own. Do what you need to."

"Are you sure?" Akise asked, before his mother nodded, he smiled "Thanks, mother." she always seemed to understand. No matter the situation, she'd always let him go if he felt strongly about something. He wouldn't share his 'affection'(?) with Misaki, as their friendship was far too new, and his friend would very likely find him weird, or say some very 'colorful' things about the statement. He sprinted back home, and stared at his notepad once he walked through the front door, though he hadn't meant to write it- the name 'Misaki' was written on it. "I guess I think about you, a lot, don't I?" he asked, chuckling slightly. Akise powered on his console and sat down, not bothering to take off his hoodie, Misaki wasn't on- to his disappointment. At least, that's what he thought until he received a party invite and joined.

"You sure have a keen grasp on 'timing'." 'Misaki'/Yuki scolded Akise right upon him joining the party.

"My mother needed me to accompany her for a short while. But I did come back, didn't I?" Akise asked, chuckling ever so slightly. Though he could feel the small amount of tension building, as Misaki tended to have a temper- he wondered if he'd be forgiven for the fact that he had come back.

"I guess." 'Misaki'/Yuki grumbled, "A day later." he added.

"Don't worry- you're still my 'number one', you know?" Akise asked, waiting as he heard nothing from Misaki. "Did I make you speechless? How rare."

"No. I just wasn't sure if you were hitting on me- or not. Sorry to say, I don't do the whole 'online dating' thing." 'Misaki'/Yuki shot him down then and there.

"Well, good, neither do I." Akise countered his statement, he enjoyed their regular banter. To other people it could be interpreted as 'fighting' but to them, it was a pretty fun thing to do. Saying 'unforgivable' or outrageous things to one another until one of them burst into laughter. He enjoyed hearing his companions laughter, and especially playing with him. "My mother would also like to know your age, Saki."

"Well, Aki- I'm in the 8th grade." 'Misaki'/Yuki said, truthfully. For once he didn't feel the need to lie to someone from the online gaming community.

"Same age as me, huh?" Akise asked, "And things are already that rough?"

"I guess." 'Misaki'/Yuki seemed bored of the conversation. "I skip a lot, so- it doesn't really phase me." he lied, as he did skip a lot but things did phase him. But he didn't want to seem like a 'loser/reject' as people termed him to be in front of his new friend.

"I miss school a few times myself." Akise said, "Doing cases and such- but my parents understand even if the school doesn't. So it all kind of evens out. But my teachers kinda hate me for the fact that I pass all of my classes, even tests and sometimes do almost none of the homework." they had insisted at one point in time he be forced to retake each and every test- he aced them and was called a 'cheater'. Even when he wrote them for a third time under very strict and supervised conditions.

"School's a breeze for you?" 'Misaki/Yuki' asked, as they began to play 'Halo 3'.

"Roughly." Akise agreed, "Not the same for you?" he had only assumed Misaki was a smart individual for the fact that the majority of them were shunned and picked on. That is to say- even if he was just passing his classes Akise doubted he was 'dumb' at all. He wasn't one to make quick judgments like that either.

"At math, I kinda flunk surface area." 'Misaki'/Yuki said semi-bitterly.

"It does often take on new victims.." Akise knew all too well how people struggled with that subject. "Just hang in there, graduate and move on to the next thing in life. Whatever it may be."

"It seems like you've got it figured out. You said you do 'cases'?" 'Misaki'/Yuki asked.

"I'm a junior detective." Akise said, "So while I can't do some things, I am able to work with materials that the general public can't know about. Some things are classified- others end up published in newspapers. The best part of it all is the fact that I get to work with thing hands on and generally get to know things first." he spoke very enthusiastic/passionate about it all that Yuki felt a pang on jealousy.

It was subtle; but there. He didn't know what he was going to do with his life, at all. "I see..."

"Is there anything you want to do?" Akise asked.

"Not really. There's nothing in mind for me." 'Misaki'/Yuki answered. That was the absolute truth, the only goal he had for now was finishing high school. That's all.

"Well, we all eventually come to know what want to do after it all. It isn't as if it's a set path." Akise said in a bid to cheer up his friend. "Hang in there, Saki. I have no doubt you'll find your niche."

"Now you're just getting sappy and cheating." 'Misaki'/Yuki scoffed.

"Why, whatever could you mean?" Akise asked in an 'innocent' manner, as he had just 'infected' (killed) Misaki on the dark tunnels map while he was distracted.

"Cheating bastard." 'Misaki'/Yuki snorted a small laugh.

"Yeah, but what can you expect?" Akise chuckled, "This is a game- after all. And isn't it every 'man' for himself?"

"Guess so. I'll remember that the next time we're on opposite teams." Yuki promised, he had a lot of fun for the duration that they played. Before he noticed it, it had gotten early in the morning and he needed to go to bed. "I need to-"

"I need to-" Akise stopped when they both spoke at the same time. "Go ahead."

"Nah, you go ahead." 'Misaki'/Yuki offered, both paused until they said "Get off." at the same time.

"Sounds like we have perfect timing for once." Akise chuckled, "Well, goodnight and see you later- Misaki."

"It's actually 'morning' here. So it would be 'good morning'." 'Miskaki'/Yuki loved to correct people.

"My mistake. Good morning, Misaki." Akise corrected himself, "May we meet again in a few hours." he joked ever so slightly, as they said one more form of 'goodbye' before finally signing off. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the time- 2:03 AM. That was one thing he forgot to ask; what time zone/country did Misaki live in. Perhaps they lived close. Maybe they lived far away, who knew for sure? One thing for him to muse later on, for now- it was time to go to bed and put his weary mind to rest. But he did have a 'plan' of sorts in mind- to learn every single thing he could about Misaki from the direct source. It was clear that he was only comfortable with sharing 'small' things about himself but Akise was certain he could eventually get comfortable enough to share others.


	4. Goodbye, for now

A little bit of an 'alteration' to the gameplay on my part. Though you can't actually make lobby names, you can in one that I play. *Cue the many, many inappropriate titles*

Anyhow, if any of you did play Biohazard/Resident Evil 5, you would know that this part is fabricated. :3

-Rachel

* * *

Yuki hosted a lobby for them, this time he gave it a name rather than just showing off his gamertag and the tasteless default 'message' it gave. Though it seemed sort of glib, and arrogant- it did draw in players as they lived the thrill of the outright challenge to their 'skills' of playing online, and as far as they knew Akise/'Misaki'/Yuki were completely new to the game and easy targets. While he had been semi-'new' throughout the game, he had a multitude of friends and quite a bit of experience in it. Campaign was finished, he spent quite a few hours in the Mercenaries, whether it be solo or duo with a partner. All in all he weighed the pros and cons of each character and found the girls to be far more desirable for the fact that they were faster, their weapons were a little more lightweight and though their attacks didn't exactly do as much damage as the mens (save for Jill's double kick which would drain a players health) they could 'punish' the victim if hit with the right one. "Ready?" Yuki asked Akise.

"Aren't I always?" Akise asked, as the pair readied up, Akise was strictly a combo keeping character (Jill Battlesuit) for the purpose of chaining up a higher combo for them to defeat the other team. Though she could also be used for offensive purposes, the pair of them didn't exactly have the 'finesse' to pull that off, quite yet. It wasn't as if he was inept when it came to using a sniper rifle, or a machine gun- as her V761's were more than capable to take down a Wesker, or a Chris- but he required incendiary grenades and even quite possibly a lot more health. One of the tedious things that came with Wesker- whether it be Midnight or STARS variant they always shot you while your back was turned. Chris was no better, with his grenade launcher/shotgun or rocket launcher once more depending on the variant you chose. Yukiteru had picked Sheva Tribal, for the purpose of being a combo keeper/highly offensive player. It wasn't exactly a surprise that their opponents went for the overpowered team of Wesker/Chris STARS. In fact, it was downright pathetic. And Akise/Yuki weren't about to take their bow just because of some cocky players that had the same old boring tactics as ever. It just made them more pumped for the moment of triumph that would be theirs.

"Don't get cocky on me, now. I mean- if you make us lose..I'll be pissed." Yuki said, waiting for a response from Akise. Which made him all the more surprised when someone else began to speak in the place of Akise.

"Hey, Akise- how about you keep your girlfriend in line?" one of the other players asked in a slightly snarky tone as the game began, Chris/Wesker 'thanking' right in the beginning in a taunt. A few seconds later Sheva and Jill did the same, the game was on- once someone taunted.. that's when the 'warrior's edge' from either side came out.

"How about you just worry about yours?" Akise asked, without so much as missing a beat. He chuckled, as the Chris fired multiple electric rounds at him in frustration from missing. To the point that he gave up in the old tell-tale tactic of one grenade blast and two magnum bullets for an instant 'kill' why brought the other into dying mode. "Come on, you gotta do better then _that_. Can't even kill a Jill?" he asked.

Yuki laughed ever so slightly at their banter, "Pretty pathetic- if I say so myself." he chimed in, "What's the matter- are a Jill and a Sheva too much for you?" he asked, as Wesker tried to get a cheap shot to the back of his head. The shot registered, but not to the extent it would have, had he been dumb enough to stand still in place.

"And yet you have to keep running." the other player grumbled, as Wesker relentlessly began to fire off multiple shotgun blasts that brought Sheva's health down to the point of holding her hip, one more shot would have brought her to the dying state, but the player began to manually reload.

"It's a strategy, you dumbass." Yuki said in a mocking/condescending fashion, using his nitrogen round grenade launcher to freeze Wesker, a bow to the head and roundhouse brought him to dying while his character began to cry out in frustration. _How is this possible...? You failed me! You failed me! _"Don't run away, that's so...cliche." Yuki killed any majini that had a chance to kill Wesker, letting him bleed until he chose to spinning back kick and kill him. On his GPS he could see Akise going into the main house for the three fire grenades, followed by Chris STARS. His health wasn't doing too good, so he figured to run over and heal him. The only problem was the combo. It was dangerous to just let it fade away- especially when you didn't know for sure if the other team had one or what number it was at if they did. He did his best to keep it, and slowly go towards Akise from the back of the map.

Akise watched, as he made Jill move out of the way just in time to evade yet another electric round, he tossed an incendiary grenade beneath him, 3 sniper shots and brought him to dying mode. "Thanks, Thanks, Thanks." his Jill began to taunt the Chris, whistling in his face, pulling out her knife as she mockingly brought it around as if to stab the other player. Once a majini appeared about to kill him, he used her cartwheel kick and hit not only Chris- and the infected, but Wesker himself who had come to try and revive his partner. He taunted the Wesker and promptly killed the player, staring at their 57 combo, he ran to the bus and grabbed a combo time. Nothing quite like gaining 1000 points per kill, 2500 per player kill (as it was 1000 points, -1000 for them, 1000 on the combo time and 500 on the combo once it broke). Sheva dropped down and healed him, the combo flickered as it was about to fade away, and Akise quickly sniped a majini. He could hear Misaki sigh of relief.

"I owe you one." Jill said in place of his thanks, "Consider it repaid." Yuki chuckled, Chris and Wesker came back for their revenge, they got Wesker and Sheva into dying at the same time, Chris went to revive his partner, while Akise healed 'Misaki' with his green/green herb. "Thanks, partner!" Sheva thanked for Yuki, he tossed a fire beneath Chris and Wesker, bringing Wesker back to dying while they gunned Chris into the dying state as well. Both were about to be crushed by an executioner as both women used their finishing kill attacks to irritate the creature and kill off a few more infected at the same time. A flash was tossed, the pair killing the executioner for 5000, an extra 1000 for the combo time which disappeared at the same moment. A high stacked combo, with two combo times- a few player kills and at 76 they were no doubt going to win. But that doesn't mean that they let up on their competition for even a moment, a few more 'colorful' choice words from 'Misaki'/Yuki later, they were finished with 200k over the other team. But someone from the opposite team rage quit, so they didn't exactly 'win' but it was still counted by the pair.

"All of that work...for nothing." Akise mused, "It's kind of boring when all people do is leave the game because they lost."

"It's not as if it even affects anything. They lost. Some people are just poor sports who should stick to things they're actually good at- if they can't even do this much." Yuki scoffed, "They taunted- they decided to act all high and mighty while they lost." an observation of his hands, showed that they were shaky. His knees felt about the same, his breathing was slightly shallow, heart racing- most definitely a high amount of adrenaline. One of the draw backs of being so young and doing online gaming- you got sucked into it fairly well.

"Not to mention the fact that they thought you were a girl." Akise chuckled, "Or that we're dating."

"People always think up stupid things." Yuki said, "Why stop now?" he asked, his face was red from the amount of focus he had put into the game, and the amount of trash talking. Thankfully, his mother hadn't heard a single word that he'd said.

"I suppose you're right." Akise conceded, "Why people always try to gun me down, is beyond me." he added, trying to strike up a bit more of conversation while they waited for the next lobby to be full/game to start.

"Probably because they think Jill is the weakest and easiest target. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me." Yuki scoffed, "People get cocky in this game, taunting a Jill as if it's skillful to kill one."

"Well, I think it's a double standard." Akise said, "If you kill a Jill and taunt her, then you're terrible. If a Jill kills you, and taunts- then she's a fairly good player, no?" he asked.

"I guess so." 'Misaki'/Yuki agreed, "But that is how it works. Some Jills just end up getting far too cocky and deserve a good taunting every now and again, though."

"That right?" Akise asked, "How about _we _face off, then?" he wondered aloud.

"You're on." Yuki grinned, he wouldn't lose- he couldn't lose.

"Alright." Akise waited, as the game session was switched over to 'Slayers' rather than 'Team Slayers', he readied up and 'Misaki' did the very same. The game started, and he grabbed his fire grenades- just in case Misaki decided to do the same tactics as other players- try and kill him just to wreck his combo. He kept a fairly good one, the majini came around a lot easier/faster and sometimes far slower, than if you had 4 players on the map. Possibly because they only had two targets to swarm around.

Yukiteru threw a flash grenade, killing the chicken for 4000 points, grabbing a combo time and started his combo chain. After it nearly failed, he went to Akise's side and began to steal kills from him. Akise's score was getting high, so he decided to drop down and saw how weary of him his companion was being. "What's the matter, scared?" he asked, just shooting majini as he pretended that was his only goal to come by his comrade.

"No- just being more.._cautious_." Akise picked and chose his words carefully- when it came to Misaki, there was no telling what could set him off.

"You don't trust me?" Yuki asked, as his combo reached 20.

"Hey- you taught me how to play, and I see no reason not to believe you wouldn't be somehow 'testing' me." Akise said, keeping his 23 combo. At the moment he got that kill, he was frozen and knocked into the 'dying' state by Sheva. "See?" he asked, a little irritated and edgy. He knew Misaki would do that, despite his protests of being 'innocent'. His combo died, and he had the lead by a good 10k, which was being usurped by Misaki getting 600 points per kill now. But two could play the player kill game.

"You insinuated I was going to kill you- I only obliged." Yuki said coldly, seeing his Jill come over and his 'P2' icon.

"Payback." Akise said, throwing a fire grenade beneath Misaki's Sheva Clubbin', three rifle bursts, he allowed him to try and revive, cartwheel kicking him back into dying.

"Now who's being a hypocrite, hmm?" Yuki snapped.

"No- it isn't hypocrisy. More, 'do to others, as they do to you'." Akise corrected, killing Misaki and breaking his combo. It would seem this battle wasn't going to come to an end any time soon- and he was right. Seeing Misaki stand still on his respawn point, he couldn't help but to question if the other male had rage quit like they'd moments prior both agreed upon being 'pathetic'. To his astonishment, he saw Misaki move and begin to combo once again. This time, he was utterly silent- save for the music playing in the background.

Yuki used his music to concentrate, he was going to win. Akise was unfriended on his end, and this would be a revenge win. Maybe he'd let himself get a little too 'comfortable' with this person. That was a mistake- one that he'd fix. He couldn't get close with anyone, because in some form or another- people _always _ended up betraying him. Why would he expect someone to be different- let alone 'someone' he met online? It was a stupid fantasy- one he should _never _have indulged upon in the very first place. He killed Akise a few more times, Akise repaid the favor once or twice, and eventually- the game ended. He went to the dashboard upon winning, and sighed, sitting back on his bed. "I'm an idiot." he said, feeling that ominous feeling of regret. He shouldn't have unfriended him like that, admittedly- and childishly- he really did miss him in the short span on time. But he was far too proud to just go 'crawling back' to Akise, so to speak. He was surprised, upon receiving a message from Akise, _Really? You really unfriended me over something so trivial and stupid? _he frowned at that, it just made him more cranky. _Yeah, you decided to be a jerk. Deal with it. _What more was there to say? He knew how much of a temper 'Misaki' had. _You did the exact opposite of what you said you'd do. I retaliated and you get mad. How is it exactly my fault? _Yuki was starting to get a little more irritated, _I did it out of fun- and you decided to be a dick. You let me bleed- and I 'repaid the favor' in your own words. _He didn't reply, or bother to wait for another one, as he blocked Akise.

There it was; all of his hopes, dreams, aspirations and thoughts on their friendship...shattered in an instant.

* * *

No, this is not the climax of the story. :3


	5. They all asked for you

_It wasn't as if he had forgotten about his old friend._ Akise had that portion straightened out, as he stared adamantly at his notepad, the old scribbled variant of 'Misaki' on there, from a month ago when he had been on an errand with his mother- in a hurry to get home and speak with his newfound companion. He hadn't even bothered to use the same notepad, he instead bought an entirely new one, perhaps out of a slight hope that he'd encounter 'Misaki' again. Biohazard had a large community, to be sure; but 'Misaki' was one of the more...'famous' people on there, little to no one liked him, everyone had uploaded a video or two of him on youtube, and there was almost a 'cult' of people against him. Though they were no longer 'friends' it didn't mean that he was going to feed into the hysteria and start bad mouthing him behind his back, he just wasn't that kind of person to begin with. But this matter was beginning to interfere with his focus on varying detective works, he was distracted and his usual observational skills had gone downhill because of that. Refusing to be a hindrance, he tried to think up all sorts of ways to rectify the situation; try and apologize? He hadn't done anything that he could see would be in the wrong- but with Misaki's short fuse, it was hard to figure out what _exactly _angered him. Sure, it was the player killing, but he had started it and that wasn't exactly a feasible excuse. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he worked out another way; make a new account just to message him? Fingers tapped on his desk as his brows furrowed in frustration, that just made him seem like a stalker who had nothing better to do in his spare time. After all- it had been a month, and he was still hung up on the matter when he doubted his companion had lost a single shred of sleep to begin with. There was no shortage of ex-'friends' that 'Misaki' had, especially from the time frame that the pair of them had (one-sided) dissolved their friendship. Unable to think of a solution, he did the simplest thing that he could think of; Akise joined a friend's lobby and promptly readied up, surprised once 'Misaki' entered the lobby and readied up, accompanied by a fairly good Team Slayers player. It seemed that his 'plan' had already worked, but truth be told- he hadn't expected it to be this fast. His partner readied up, and the game started.

_The rematch. _One that he had been denied from the first place. It was clear that his ex-partner, (Misaki) had gotten a great deal better- for one thing, he didn't try to blindside them in such a simple way. This time, he actually took his time before trying to kill Akise and his partner. But they were ready, Akise and he gunned down 'Misaki' and left him to bleed- that is, until Akise took pity upon him and cartwheel kicked him. Upon respawning, Sheva 'thanked' and came back for another kill. She stole a few majini, before ultimately being killed again. Akise's partner taunted him with a 'thanks' a 'go' and a whistle, while Akise's Jill said 'wait' to his partner and killed 'Misaki' once more out of mercy. At least- that was how Akise had put things. To his surprise, when Misaki's Sheva came around, she never came for his Jill; just his partner. And this time- his partner was defeated, crying out for help, asking to be healed; but Akise let him die. One simple act of 'truce' between the pair of them, as he continued to keep the combo. While he was still weary of Misaki- he did evade him every now and again just to keep their combo, while his partner and Misaki began to duke it out for the remainder of the match. Even to the point where his 'friendly' partner became not so friendly and tried to gang up on Akise's partner. Which prompted Akise to step in and begin killing off Misaki's partner. He left him to bleed out, and Misaki didn't heal him- an unspoken 'deal' between the pair of them, neither healed the other's partner nor interfered with their execution. Both teams combos died, and the rest of the game was just spent in player killing. It was close, with a remaining ten seconds, as Akise killed Misaki's partner, earning a 2000 point bonus and gaining them the lead, just as he thought Misaki about to betray him- he instead fired an open shot on Akise's partner, he and his trying to kill him frantically to win, but the game ended before they could. Now, they were even.

A notification popped up, saying that 'Misaki' sent him a message, he opened it and prepared himself for a severe amount of he himself being chewed out, and to his surprise- it was a simple 'Good game'. Nothing more, nothing less. Maybe he was testing Akise, if he too wanted to rekindle their old friendship. Perhaps it was one of those moments where your action influenced everything, so Akise replied back in the same exact way. Another message popped up, 'Thanks'. It was at this point that he figured his old companion was far too proud to say anything along the lines of or about the pair of them becoming friends, or inviting him to a party- so he took the initiative. He invited 'Misaki' into a party and waited, a minute passed by, two, just when he was about to give up- a new notification indicating Misaki had joined popped up. Neither one of them spoke for a moment or two, but either or could hear the others breathing. "Hello?" Akise started the conversation, as he could no longer tolerate the uncomfortable silence. Not to mention that he was eager to strike up a conversation and see if his hunch had been right on the money about things.

"Hello." Yuki said, his voice was confident- the total and complete opposite to himself. While he tried to act composed, his heart was pounding. This was a completely awkward situation- for him to come back to Akise like this. He felt awkward, because of the fact that the way he ran his mouth had ended a great 'friendship' and it wasn't as if he had made anymore of them in school. The silence that came after he said 'hello' only proved to make him feel more guilty, and it wasn't as if it was an unjustified guilt.

"I take it, you're not mad at me anymore?" Akise asked, not trying to provoke Misaki at all. He just wanted to affirm that he wasn't going be yelled at or belittled, because that wasn't the type of 'moment' he intended for the pair of them to have. To make up for the time that the pair of them had lost, catch up on varying things even if it was the tiniest thing- that was all he wanted. And maybe it was a selfish wish; but that's what he wanted.

"...no." Yuki shook his head, once more as if his companion could see it. About to speak an apology, the words didn't come out; "I'm not." that's about the closest he got to giving an 'apology' to someone else he met online.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Akise chuckled, "Didn't know if I'd be on your 'bad list' for the rest of my life." to be honest, it would have bothered him if he was.

Yuki tensed for a moment at that comment, a little unsure of how to reply. Why would you want to be my friend again, after I treated you so horribly? That was the question he wanted to ask but instead, he replied with "I can hold a good grudge, though I don't usually give out exceptions to my 'one strike' rule, consider yourself lucky." it was hard not to be haughty and arrogant when speaking to someone online, it was different from real life. You didn't speak to them face-to-face and you could make yourself an entirely new persona that was someone you _wanted _to be rather than who you were. Anonymity was a 'saving grace' for outcasts like him. Besides, though people detested Yukiteru Amano- they readily joined 'Misaki' in whatever he was up to. Though 'he' said highly 'unforgivable' things, people still added _him _and became friends with _him_. Jealous, of himself...how much more pathetic could Yukiteru become? A small sigh escaped his lips and he thought of how piteous his life could be at nearly every corner.

"Does that mean that you like me?" Akise asked, with a grin, "You know- making an exception to one your 'absolute' rules just for someone such as myself and all.."

"...you're a good friend." Yuki admitted, he didn't know what type of 'like' Akise was fishing for, but he thought that it would surely be about the pair of them being friends.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Akise chuckled, "Good to have you back."

Yuki had to pause again, having not heard such a nice thing said to him, _ever_. It almost made him cry, hearing something- just from someone whom he'd met online. His eyes had watered, and he wiped away the moisture with the back of his sleeve, "Thanks, I guess.." he had to add in the last part just to make himself seem not too overeager.

"Well, how about we play a few games for old times sake?" Akise asked, as he sent a friend request to 'Misaki'. It was accepted, and the pair played while catching up on old times, as if no time at all had passed. Little did both know; that this was in fact a cycle- one that would repeat itself over the course of the next four years.

* * *

*Hint, the time-skip is going to be 4 years in the next chapter. Hence the small one here.* The yaoi is gonna be starting up (a little slower) from the next chapter. :3

-Rachel


	6. My first kiss

Yukiteru was surprised to see an empty desk, where supposedly the new student was supposed to be. He hadn't attended the entrance ceremony- and now.. "You may come in!" his homeroom teacher called, puzzled as the door didn't open, that there was no reaction or noise of any kind. Walking to the door, his teacher opened it and stared at the empty hallway, where had his student gone to? Scratching the back of his head, he walked back to his desk, "Well, I suppose the introductions with Aru will have to..wait until a later date." he said, turning to the board and writing out the mathematics problems they'd be running through for the day. A cumulative groan sounded through the students, who all felt annoyed at doing math on the very first day. "Yes, I know- everyone hates math, but this is easy. Just a little warm-up from where you left off from last years lessons. I also want to know at what individual level you're all at. No one be ashamed, as everyone learns things at a different level. That's all." his eyes looked around the room, as he looked for students who were both listening and zoning out in their own worlds for him to call upon. "Amano. Gasai." he held out two pieces of chalk, for both of them to solve a math problem on the board.

Yuki snapped out of his thoughts, and stood at the same time as Yuno, the pair of them grabbing the white pieces of chalk from their teacher and figuring out the math problems. Yuno finished hers with relative ease, glancing at Yuki and seeing his slight trouble, she smiled and pretended to trip into him, whispering the answer, and apologizing at the same time for the added effect. 'Thank you.' Yuki mouthed to her, as he gave his chalk back to their teacher and sat down. Yuno flashed him another smile, that made the boy blush, 'No problem.' she mouthed back. Because of Yuno- he had become fairly proficient in the reading of lips, as expected of his 'future wife' as she loved to call herself. Though it wasn't as if he had any other suitors then Yuno, anyone else who called him by nicknames, or just all around showed that they had a keen interest in every single little detail about him. It had made his school life far easier- having someone as amazing as her by his side, that was not only smart, beautiful and a good person- but someone who didn't care about popularity (obviously, as she chose _him _of all people to hang around with, and confess her love to.) Yuki was thankful, to have found someone like her to have in his life.

Well, she wasn't the only kind of person he had like that, that was a good friend to him- Akise was like her. But he had never met him in person, though he could for sure say that he was definitely his 'best friend' (he didn't really care if that sounded sad, as it was the absolute truth. No one else had come even remotely close to sticking by his side for that long.) though they did have their fights, and moments where neither of them truly knew if things would get better; they always did rekindle their relationship no matter what. Possibly because Yuki always felt a crippling guilt of sorts whenever he started an argument with Akise and ended up unfriending him..or the fact that he almost instantly missed him to the point of caving and re-adding him. But, after four years- even though all of the things he had put his friend through, or said or did to the point of being 'unforgivable' he wouldn't give up their friendship- for just about anything. Startled, as he felt a tap on his shoulder, Yukiteru looked up at Yuno, who smiled down at him, "Yukki, you've been daydreaming for the whole lesson, you know?" she asked sweetly, arms folded behind her back, "Is something on your mind?"

Yuki laughed nervously, "Y-yeah.." he admitted, rubbing the back of his head, "I was just thinking of a dear friend of mine." he said, smiling back at her.

"Is it...a girl?" Yuno asked, she couldn't help but to feel the enormous pang of jealousy at the mention of another female attempting to contest for her place in his heart. If it was- she could be dealt with, ever so easily...

"No..." Yuki shook his head, "Definitely not a girl." he finished.

Yuno felt relieved at that, "Would you like to borrow my notes?" she asked, changing the subject- she knew fully well that Yuki was fairly dense about things, and he probably wouldn't have noticed her 'dark' interior even if it flashed on the outside for a moment or two. But it was something that she enjoyed about him, that he was such a 'pure white' such as his name, well, the first portion meaning 'snow'. A naive boy, that had instantly swayed her from the moment that they had met; that she instantly felt the need to call her own. He never rejected the term, most likely because he was too nice, or perhaps because he himself was starved for the attention that she provided. Either way, it all worked out in her favor, and if this 'friend' of his got in her way, then..she would take steps.

"Please." Yuki nodded, standing as the pair of them exited the classroom, "I was a little more..distracted today." the boy sheepishly admitted, a small tinge of pink on his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his head. It was an almost alien feeling, to not have his toque on- for his messy hair to just sit there uncovered. While he was distracted, an underclassmen girl bumped into him.

"Ah- I-I'm so sorry..." her eyes were shut, rubbing her head as she recovered.

"N-no..it's fine, it was my fault. I wasn't paying attention." Yukiteru explained, bending down and offering her his hand.

Her eyes opened as the girl stared at the male she'd bumped into, "I'm so sorry- senpai!" she apologized, her cheeks turning red as she hesitantly took his hand, an oblivious Yukiteru didn't see, nor think much of her reaction to him.

"It's fine." Yuki said, smiling- he wasn't used to the term 'senpai', usually himself just being the 'kouhai' in these types of situations. "My fault." he repeated, once he helped the girl up.

"It really wasn't." she insisted, smiling sheepishly and blushing a little more furiously, until she saw Yuno's glare upon her. One that said 'don't even think about it'. "I- I have to be going." she said, as her friend and she strode past the pair.

"That was odd.." Yuki blinked, "'Senpai', huh?" he asked, smiling as he mused it over. Somehow, it made him feel a bit happy- just to be acknowledged.

"I have no idea why they'd run away so fast..." Yuno said sweetly, "Especially after running into you without even so much as introducing themselves, how rude.."

"Oh well." Yuki continued to smile as he shrugged it off, it was something that he was used to by now. "No harm done. Maybe they just didn't like me.." he said, "Good thing I can always count on you.." he added, as Yuno handed him her notes.

Yuno felt a new spark of adoration and happiness come on at that remark, _always. _"Yukki can always count on me for the rest of his life." she chirped happily, "For anything at all."

"Okay." Yuki nodded, blushing lightly at her statement, "So long as it's not a bother to you- I'll be counting on you." he smiled, looking gratefully down at her notes, he felt bad for always leaning on Yuno. Surely she must have on some level gotten tired of him constantly needing her help. Though he was grateful for everytime that she came through for him, without fail.

"It's never a burden." Yuno immediately shot the idea down, his every wish and will would be granted by her- by any means necessary. So long as it made her Yukiteru happy, she would do _anything_ at all. Murder? Easy. Money? She had plenty of it from her adoptive parents that both went 'missing' a few years prior, a few months after she had met Yukiteru. Having him 'console' her while she was 'mad with grief' was one of the greatest joys in her entire life. Yuki hugging her, whispering 'sweet nothings' about how it 'wasn't her fault', that 'it would get better' and he would 'stay by her side'. Totally and completely, this boy would be hers, no matter the cost. Even if she had to continually drive away any and all suitors that he had coming his way. Him being so dense had helped in her mission, but it was becoming increasingly hard to keep away possible suitors when they came from every corner. Yuki had quite the growth spurt in the few years that she'd known him, at first- she had been taller than him, but he towered over her, his messy hair that at first some girls murmured about being nothing but an unkempt feature now attracted them in hoards. His blue eyes seemed to captivate anyone that they fell upon, not to mention that smile he haphazardly tossed out to anyone who was so much as friendly to him. But she'd be damned before she allowed anyone to steal him away from her. As far as she was concerned; he was totally and utterly hers.

Yuki flashed her the smile that stole the hearts of so many, (herself included) "Thank you, for always helping me out." he said sheepishly, even if she said it was 'nothing' for her to do, he didn't know if that was exactly true. Though she said they'd always be together, he didn't know if that was feasible, after finishing school they were most likely destined to part- and who'd know what came next. Today, she spoke of being his 'future wife' but who knew what the future actually held? It wasn't as if they were dating, though that was the rumor spreading around the school. He thought it was most likely because the pair of them stuck together so much, but without Yuno- he had _no one else. _Totally losing track of time, he barely made it to his second class, where once more the desk next to his was empty. Another confused teacher later, saying that perhaps 'Aru' would come the next day and that perhaps he had a valid reason for missing classes on the first day of the school year. Yuki found himself more and more curious about his absent school mate throughout the day, it was a fairly rare occurrence for people to miss school- let alone on the first day. Well, he himself skipped a lot less often, so maybe before he just hadn't noticed absences because of his shady 'attendance'. Yuki stood up once more as his teacher called upon him for being distracted, so he was the very first to begin his oral test in English along with a girl from the class. "_Hello, my name is Yukiteru._" it was a pretty straightforward test, all they did was back and forth until the teacher was satisfied and the pair sat down.

He was fairly certain that he had aced the test- as his grade in English had stayed fairly consistent, he always aced it with no problems whatsoever. Some people totally tanked the test, but were given the chance to retry it on a make up day, so it wasn't too bad. A knock came at the door of the classroom, the 'tests' were postponed for the moment, "I-is Amano senpai here?" a girl asked, seemingly very nervous.

"Amano." the teacher motioned to the door, as Yuki stared in the doorway, he didn't recognize the person who called him by name.

Yuki stood up and walked over, staring down at her with a questioning look. "C-come with me...please." though she had 'asked' she grabbed him gently by the hand and began to lead him off. Yuki followed her, unsure of where they were going, let alone on the why. Feeling as if he should ask, his tongue was tied as he couldn't make a sentence in the slightest. Noting that he was being led off to a secluded area, he still didn't quite understand.

"A teacher didn't call for me?" Yuki asked, finally breaking the silence. He didn't try to pull his hand out of hers, because he didn't so much mind her holding it- in fact, he forgot that she was holding it at all.

"Well, no..." she shook her head, letting go of his hand and turning to look up at Yuki, the reddish pink-haired girl stared up at him hesitantly. "Sorry about interrupting your class, Amano senpai- I just..I wanted to talk to you.." she explained, as her foot began to play with the ground, while she worked up the courage to say what she wanted to say.

"To me?" Yuki asked, surprised by it all- "Why would you want to talk with me?" he didn't mean to come off rude, even if he did. "T-that is, I mean, most people don't talk to me..or really like me.." he smiled at her, blushing lightly.

She laughed, "Senpai is very approachable. Oh- I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Honoka Takahashi." Honoka offered her hand, as her green eyes stared into his blue.

"Well, even if you say that.." Yuki paused, shaking her hand, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Yukiteru Amano. You can call me 'Yuki' if you want."

"Alright...Yuki." Honoka tested out his name, "I just wanted to say..I like you." she said it outright, otherwise the pair of them would have just been standing there for a long amount of time.

"Like...?" Yuki asked, trying to make sure he had heard right.

"Yes.." Honoka looked away, her face red. "I like senpai.." she repeated, though it was embarrassing.

Yuki didn't know how to respond, "Well, thank you.." he said, smiling "But I'm sorry to say..that I can't return your feelings." trying to let her down easy was the best that he could do. She seemed to be a very nice girl, and what she had just done had no doubt taken a lot of courage. Confessing your feelings to someone- he couldn't imagine the amount of courage one needed to build up just to say something like that. But he didn't know her at all, though his cheeks were red from both embarrassment and flattery, his eyes teared up ever so slightly, "Though we don't know each other..." he paused for a moment, "Thank you very much, for liking me.." a perfect stranger had come to like him, just from afar- how could he not feel emotional?

"S-senpai...don't cry!" Honoka felt embarrassed, but the look he gave her..was so completely adorably cute that she could barely hold it together. She hugged him, though she had just gotten 'crushed' by his rejection, she couldn't help but to feel happy.

"Sorry.." Yuki apologized, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve, "But thank you, again.." he hugged her back, "I hope we could be friends, maybe..?" he asked.

"I'd like that." Honoka readily agreed, "Senpai, you're not very keen on observational skills, are you?" she asked, stepping back from him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yuki asked, a little confused.

Honoko laughed, shaking her head, "Never mind, senpai.." she waved, before running off.

Observational skills..? All he ever did, was observe the goings on of the world surrounding him. To be a person without 'voice' in public, or school- so afraid of rejection and being shot down by others that he was still as timid as he'd always been. That he was still that little boy, longing to be accepted by others- to have friends and be able to..know what it was like to be wanted. Outside of Yuno, and his mystery friend Akise; his mother, he didn't know that feeling. But people- even just the one person like Honoka, gave him a glimmer of a hope. Walking back to his class, Yuki sat back at his desk and waited out the rest of the period, finishing all of the assignments given and thankfully having no homework. Well, at least for this class as he had been completely distracted in math. He went to the cafeteria, meeting up with Yuno and the pair sat at their usual table. "Is something wrong?" Yuki asked, seeing her glaring at something. When he turned his head, all he could see was a table filled with giggling, whispering girls.

"Nothing at all, Yukki!" Yuno smiled as she looked at him, her fist beneath the table indicated otherwise, she had only just learned of the 'Yukiteru Amano fan club' apparently- girls had been crushing over him so much *the previous seniors had mentioned a thing or two that was passed down to the middle schoolers* that it constituted some form of group. A hindrance- that's all that it was. Everyone from juniors to seniors seemed to now want to date Yukiteru- why was it that now because he was taller and older that they found him to be 'more desirable'? She had loved him before all of those added features came in, so why did they think they could contest her over him?

Yuki smiled, "How did your second period go?" he asked, trying to strike up conversation.

"Really well, no homework from finishing everything first and on time." Yuno beamed happily, "How was yours?" she asked.

"Interesting, actually." Yuki continued to smile, "I made a new friend- well, she wasn't a 'friend' at first. She told me that she liked me, but I- well..while I was flattered, I just couldn't return her feelings. But she didn't seem too down that I rejected her."

"Interesting." Yuno repeated the word, she didn't know how else to phrase it. While she was happy he rejected the girl..she wasn't happy at all he was getting love confessions. "Was she an underclassmen?" she asked, fishing for any and all information that she could get from Yuki.

"Yes." Yuki nodded, unaware of more girls approaching his table. Yuno herself wasn't at all pleased, but because Yuki was looking at her she couldn't blow her cover and ward off the girls. Before she knew it, they were grabbing and leading him off, and she bitterly had to follow. Every confession that was given to Yuki made her more and more visibly irritated, she'd kill all of them. Gritting her teeth, she had to bare with it, some of her irritation was subsided by the fact that he rejected all of them, though in his own kind way- even going so far as to show them the cuter side of himself that she herself hadn't even bared witness to yet. It only seemed to give them _more _hope instead of letting them know that he wasn't interested- and they even went so far as to boast that they weren't giving up, before scuttling off. However, before she could interject- the bell rang and they were separated for the rest of the day. His club activities on the Student Council alienated them further, as he had to stay after hours in a lengthy meeting for all newly elected 'officials' to introduce themselves and discuss varying matters on the school. Getting carried away, their discussions lasted until sunset and Yuno was nowhere to be seen once it was all finished. He was a little disappointed; but what did he think? That she would wait forever for him? It made sense that she grew tired of waiting, sighing to himself- he made a mental note to apologize tomorrow to her, before making his way home. There was a serial killer on the loose, and he didn't want to get caught up in something so trivial.

Every noise alerted him to something new, he jumped slightly, cringing as he heard the calls of varying creatures of the night. Dogs hollowing, cats hissing and running out of fear- owls, and once he heard footsteps he realized how afraid he truly was. The moonlight offered very little light for him to visibly see, but the shadow appeared to be getting closer, and he took off in a full sprint. Whomever was following him did the very same, they clearly had a high amount of stamina, as he had been through rigorous training in P.E. and the sports club that he'd joined (out of being tired of always being the 'wimpy' or undesirable person always overlooked, and it had worked out in his favor) was it the killer? Because he really didn't think he could deal with such a person, his only option was to run. That is- until the back of his collar was grabbed, prompting him to stop dead in his tracks, it was strangling from how tight the grip was, or the combination of him trying to escape and the person's grip. "You should be careful, you know?" the person who spoke seemed a mixture of concerned and amused, "If I let go of your collar- do you promise not to take off and do something foolish?"

Yuki nodded, as the person did just as they'd promised. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Me?" the white-haired boy asked, stepping in front of Yukiteru, "Akise. Akise Aru." he smiled, chuckling slightly, "Looks like we both got a little 'overworked' in this situation. You're not who I was looking for- and I find it very doubtful that you thought I was whom you were running from. But I have no doubt we both thought the other to be the same person." Akise paused for a moment, his crimson eyes looking over Yukiteru, "A highschool senior?" he asked.

Akise...? Only once in his life had he 'met' a person with that name, not officially- but something about this person seemed slightly familiar, though he brushed the feeling off. "Aru...? You're missing person from class!" Yuki finally put it together.

"Yeah, that would be me." Akise paused, "I suppose that makes you and I classmates, huh?" an amused smile worked its way across his face, his hands in his pockets, "Are you going to introduce yourself, or leave me in the dark?"

"Y-Yukiteru Amano." Yuki introduced himself, slightly embarrassed he hadn't done so in the first place.

"Amano..." Akise tested out his given last name, for some reason it felt a little too 'impersonal' "How about 'Yukiteru', instead?"

"S-sure..." Yuki nodded, "In that case...may I call you 'Akise'?" he asked, "I-it's just I have a friend who goes by the same name, so out of habit I may just end up calling you that and don't want to be too formal.."

Seeing the small blush on his face only made Akise want to tease him a bit, but he held back for the moment. "Sure." decidedly, he already liked the other male, he was attractive- to be sure, fairly tall (though not as tall as Akise), timid(?) in nature, and like his name 'Yuki' suggested, he was pure just like the 'snow'. "Call me as you like." remembering why he was out here in the first place, he stopped. "While I'd love to just stand here and find out more about you..how about I get you home, instead?" Akise offered.

"I can't ask you for something like that.." Yuki didn't want to decline, truth be told- he was afraid of walking home, alone.

"You're not _asking_, I'm _offering_." Akise chuckled, "Come on." he grabbed Yuki's hand and began to lead him out of the alleyway, "So, which way is 'home', Yukiteru?"

"Y-you know..you could call me 'Yuki'." Yuki said, "That way." he pointed with his free hand, feeling a bit silly that he was literally being led back home by the hand. A high school senior..who still needed someone to hold his hand..

"I'll think about it." Akise smiled, "It's alright to be afraid, you know? Not everyone is fearless, and many people have phobias of all kinds. This isn't an unjustified fear either, serial killers in the night, a person following you in a mad dash? Of course your nerves would be shot. Any rational thinking person in your shoes would have felt about the same." he tried to dissuade what he assumed was Yukiteru second guessing himself.

"You're right.." Yuki agreed, taking a deep breath to steady himself, "What is it that you were doing out here, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm a detective." Akise said, "I used to just be a 'junior' but I worked my way up through the ranks..and while it's not _completely _official- I do work with the police force on things hidden from the public's eye. Once I finish high school I'll already have a job lined up. What about you?"

"There's...nothing in mind for me, really." Yuki shook his head, "You're pretty tall.." he commented.

"Well, perhaps you'll figure it out down the road." Akise paused, "I suppose so. But you're fairly tall yourself." he said, looking over, "I like you."

"I'm sorry, but- we've only just met and-" out of habit, (from today) Yuki was 'rejecting' Akise.

"It wasn't a declaration of my undying love and affections." Akise chuckled, "Have a large ego, do we?"

"S-sorry! I just- today..there were..many..confessions and I thought.." Yuki tried to form a sentence to explain why he thought what he did.

"That I was head over heels for you." Akise concluded, "That's fine. It's not hard to see why people would swoon over you." he smirked slightly, "You seem a bit surprised at the 'confessions' you received."

"Until today- I was just someone who blended into the background. Nothing..that people found desirable." Yuki explained.

"Undesirable, you?" Akise shook his head, "We've only just met- and there is definitely more to you then meets the eye."

"T-thank you.." Yuki blushed again, embarrassed for seemingly the 100th time today.

"Don't mention it." Akise smiled.

"I'm home.." Yuki said, as they reached his front porch.

"Safe and sound." Akise continued to smile, "I'll need my hand back, you know?" he asked.

"R-right.." Yuki let go, "Sorry." he said, embarrassed as he looked away.

"Don't be." Akise shrugged, but if he wanted to be embarrassed all the time..he'd let him be embarrassed. Grabbing Yuki's hand, he pulled the other male close and kissed him. Yuki's eyes widened as he stared at Akise in a mild form of horror, unable to do anything except for stand. "Be safe." Akise said, as he stepped back and began to walk away.

"..." Yuki was going to say something, anything- but what could one say after that? Instead, he went inside, "I'm home!" he announced, taking off his shoes and looking around. No surprise, no answer came, instead there was a card written on the table by his mother, explaining he was home alone for another night. That dinner was in the microwave and for him to reheat it. Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't home, too many weird occurrences had gone on today, and he was a little shell shocked. He warmed up his dinner and took it upstairs, sitting in his room, the neglected meal turning cold as he thought of what just happened. _He said he didn't like me in 'that' way and yet..he.._he couldn't bring himself to think the rest of that sentence, nor repeat it out loud. That another boy had _kissed _him. He hadn't even been kissed up to that point- what would Yuno think of this? Even though it was late, he still wondered if his friend was online. Needing something to calm his nerves, he went on and was disappointed when Akise wasn't. Sighing, he resolved to just _try _and go to sleep, even with his restless mind.

* * *

This time around, I went for something a little more lengthy. Thoughts?

*I thought the two of them being clueless would be cute.* But- Akise will definitely figure it out very easily. :3

-Rachel


	7. A little fanservice

Self-explanatory title.

* * *

"Yukki! Are you okay?" Yuno asked, seeing how much more distracted he was this particular moment.

Yuki's cheeks turned red for a moment as he snapped out of his thoughts to glance at Yuno. "I-I'm fine.." he stammered, in truth his mind was still on yesterday and the odd encounter he'd been through. His hand touched his lips briefly, before he realized what he was doing and instantly stopped, he didn't know how Yuno would react and he didn't want to provoke her for no reason.

"What happened, Yukki?" Yuno asked, staring at the odd gesture, "Do you have a cold sore?" she asked, hopeful that's all it was. If a girl got carried away and decided to give him a kiss..she'd die on the spot. The blush on his face didn't help things; except if it came about just because she called him, that she would be perfectly fine with. Any other explanation..and she wouldn't be quite so happy anymore.

"Uh...I think so.." Yuki was brazen to lie to her, he couldn't help it. He didn't want to upset her over something so trivial, especially when he himself didn't understand any of it.

"Good morning." the teacher called, "Shall we try this again?" he asked, looking to the door, "You may come in, Aru." this time the door opened, and a small sigh of relief visibly came from the teacher as Akise stepped in. "Decided to show up this time, did we, Aru?" it was a slightly teasing manner that came from the teacher, but also a stern tone of voice.

"Something important came up yesterday, I apologize." Akise said, with a humored smile, standing and staring at all of his classmates, "My name is Akise Aru, it's a pleasure to meet all of you." he bowed curtly, "And I hope I can get along with all of you." a cumulative sigh came from the girls, who all stared at him with amorous looks, the boys looked at him in envy at the girls all swooning at once. Though all eyes were currently on him, his eyes lingered on Yukiteru alone. Seeing the embarrassment on his face, and the way that Yuki averted his eyes under his glance made him smirk slightly, how was it possible for an individual to be so cute? He didn't know; and frankly he didn't care. Making his way to what he assumed was his desk (it was the only one unoccupied, so one couldn't really go wrong.) it just so happened to be next to Yukiteru as well. How serendipitous.

"Yukki, what's wrong?" Yuno saw his obvious embarrassment at something, "You don't like him, do you?" she asked, noticing there was something definitely 'off' when it came to the new boy. "Want me to deal with him?" she asked, not knowing how the pair of them already would have a 'rivalry' but such a person could be easily dealt with.

"I'm fine.." Yuki insisted, "I-It's not like I like him, or anything..." he paused, blinking as he realized he over thought about the question. "It was just a..." stopping as he almost finished that sentence. "N-no..don't do anything, okay?" Yuki asked, smiling at Yuno to be assuring.

"Yukki...you're acting strange." Yuno paused, "Just a...what?"

"I was just..lost in thought, is all." Yuki smiled, "There's nothing to worry about."

Akise took his seat next to Yuki, "Hello, again." he said, continuing to wear his smile, chuckling slightly at Yuki's reactions to himself. He left quite the impression on the shorter male, _good_. That's what he intended to do, well maybe not from the get go. His companion didn't seem happy at all, clearly the jealous type.

"You two know each other, Yukki?" Yuno asked, hoping he'd elaborate on _what _exactly their relationship entailed.

"Vaguely." Akise answered for the pair of them, "We only just met yesterday, he thought I was a serial killer. It was actually quite the situation." he chuckled slightly.

Yuno studying the boy carefully, "I see.."

"You have me at a disadvantage; you know my name but I have no idea what yours is." Akise 'asked', though it would only be a matter of time before he found it out on his own even if she didn't want to tell him. The one thing about school, information was the easiest thing to attain about other students. Whether it be from 'friends' 'enemies' or the faculty, someone always had a tidbit or two that you were searching for. Though he had the impression that he was already disliked by this girl- it didn't matter..he'd play 'nice' so long as she did.

"Yuno Gasai." Yuno introduced herself with her facade of being 'cheerful' just because Yuki was beside them.

"Gasai. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." Akise smiled, _Yuno Gasai..._ he made a mental note of that. The girl who was orphaned, because her parents went 'missing' if we wasn't mistaken. Though there was suspicion about whom would threaten or do away with the Gasai family, they were a powerfully rich and influential power player..so it wasn't as if they were short on enemies. But why leave the sole heir behind? The one who could claim the amassed fortunes and start off from where their parents left off? Some things didn't add up, but some people called it nothing short of a 'miracle', he'd have to do some digging and find out the facts for himself. Of course, he did some 'digging' when it came to Yukiteru, as well. His curiosity had inexplicably piqued when it came to his equivalent (in grade), and he had quite the story. Perhaps, one that some would label as a 'tragedy'.

Parents split in his younger years, a father who scarcely interacted in his life; a loving/adoring mother who spoiled and sheltered him from the varying things in life he had. Bullies. The trivial things of being 'unpopular' up until this year in school, such a curious thing it all was. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Yukiteru doing the wrong mathematical formula, "You're using the wrong format, Yukiteru. Try this." he wrote the correct one in its place, before going back to his work.

"T-thanks.." Yuki said, appreciatively as he found his answers lined up with the examples in his text book.

"Don't mention it." Akise nodded, feeling someone stare at him he looked over to see his pinkhaired companion glaring at him. Pretending he didn't notice, he finished up his work until the class was finished and they moved onto the next, English. Yet another fairly easy subject, until he was whisked off by a student who knocked at the door. "And you are..?" he couldn't help but to ask; being the 'new kid' and all he didn't know every person in this school off-hand.

"Kousaka." was the only response he received, "You missed the first day of your club activities, so you need to make up for it right now." he explained.

"Ah. I see." Akise let himself be led to the sports room, stepping inside and claiming a sports outfit for himself, it was fairly comfortable. Much more so than the school uniforms they were forced to wear, he'd probably just stick to this in the future. It wasn't all that heavy, seemed to be durable and he could see himself wearing it from this point onward. It was almost entirely like a track suit, just in the school's colors. "What antics did I miss from yesterday?"

"A few drills, the team getting acquainted. Today's also the day we choose the 'head' of our club." Kousaka explained.

"And when does the voting actually take place?" Akise asked, no doubt he'd have to participate in the activity, so he may as well get it over with.

"Right now, actually. Everyone's sitting in the change room, waiting." he explained, before walking to where Akise assumed it was.

He followed behind, seeing a bunch of waiting and eager looking guys. "Well, now that we're all here, how about we start the voting?" assuming that was the coach, Akise readily agreed with the others, taking his place by 'his' new locker. "Any volunteers?" he asked, nearly every hand in the room shot up, save for Akise, he wasn't really interested in becoming the 'head' of the club, he just wanted to enjoy his sports activities in general. "Aru. You did fairly well at your previous school, anyone see any problems with him being your leader?" though they were disappointed at not being chosen off the bat like him, no one gave off complaints. In fact, the kind of welcomed the idea. "It's settled, then. Aru, you're the head of the sports club."

"Yes sir." Akise did his best to not seem uninterested in the topic at hand, and nodded.

Yuki walked out of his finished English class, seeing Akise had forgotten his things, he scooped them up for the other male. If he saw him, (which he likely would, they had all the same classes) he'd give them to him. To his surprise, there wasn't a single note within any of his books, at least- none to do with school. His brows furrowed, as he saw some things he very likely shouldn't have, so he refrained from looking. It was lunch break, and he was likely to run into Akise, anyway- he didn't want to be caught reading from his notebook either. In the back of his mind, he was still thinking about what happened between the two of them, yesterday and it kind of frightened him. "Oh- Amano senpai! As usual- your face is the only thing that looks good."

Yuki blinked, unsure of if that was a compliment or not. He wasn't sure why he said what he did next, but he had for some odd reason. "Want to do it with me?"

"Sure, why not?" she asked with a smile.

Yuki blinked once more, that...easy? "Are you sure..?" he asked.

"It's not like I have a boyfriend, anyway." a pause, "And I may end up liking you if we do it. So why not?"

At a loss for words, Yuki followed her, the pair of them slipping into a bathroom stall. Finding himself kissed, he lost himself in in how it felt. He liked it, he truly did- but something was missing. _Probably because it isn't Akise. _At that thought, he stopped. "I can't do this- afterall.." he admitted sheepishly.

"I thought it would be impossible with senpai, anyway. Bye." she waved, before running off.

"What does that mean..?" Yuki asked, a little surprised at her response, before leaving on his own. Sighing, he stared out the windows of the building. That is, until he heard a ruckus, "Huh, Akise?" he asked, seeing him sprinting pretty fast from something. Looking over, he saw just in time that Akise was about to run into him. "Am I imagining things?" he asked.

"No.." Akise admitted, "You're not."

Seeing his groupies coming, Yuki grabbed his hand, "Come with me." he said, unlocking the door to the student council room, shutting it behind them and motioning for Akise to sit against the doors like him.

"I'm pretty sure you don't need to keep holding my hand, now." Akise smiled.

"Huh? Oh.." Yuki let it go, embarrassed he'd been doing something so strange.

"Well, thanks for that." Akise continued to smile, "Who'd think I'd get swarmed by a herd of girls on my first day as a senior?"

"I didn't.." Yuki admitted, as just yesterday the same things had been happening to him.

"As for a 'reward'.." Akise leaned over and kissed Yuki.

"Wha-" Yuki opened his mouth to ask a question, only for Akise to take on the 'invitation' and kiss him a little more sensually. "That's...disgusting.." he lied, putting his arm over his face, mostly trying to hide the burning sensation he now felt.

"Is that so?" Akise asked, with an amused smile. "Yukiteru..you wouldn't happen to be a.." he leaned in closer, whispering in his ear, "virgin, would you?"

Yuki blushed furiously at that statement, he didn't respond for the longest time. "N-no..and doing such things with a guy is.."

"You seemed to enjoy it." Akise shrugged it off, "Although I don't think your 'girlfriend' would be happy. Gasai."

"Yuno?" Yuki asked, forgetting about her entirely, the realization hit him.

"You're on a first name basis?" Akise asked, "Interesting." he concluded, standing up. "My mistake. I'll be going." he moved to open the door, as his sleeve was caught, he looked down to see Yuki grab it. "Something on your mind?"

"Why do you..keep kissing me everytime we meet?" Yuki asked, he was curious.

"What exactly are you asking me?" Akise asked, countering with his own question.

"Do you do this with everyone you meet in the middle of the night?" Yuki asked.

"No. You're the first." Akise said, seeing how embarrassed Yuki was, it was so cute. The redness on his face, how timid he was throughout all of their 'meetings' and..he was just all-around cute. He wasn't gay himself, but Akise couldn't deny the attraction he felt to Yukiteru. And he didn't want to- but he wouldn't openly tell Yuki that he thought more of him then a friend, after only meeting less than 24 hours ago. That'd make him seem crazy, and more importantly probably scare Yukiteru off. "I have to get going, club activities." he explained, before leaving the room.


	8. You're so lewd, Yukiteru

Evidently, I lied on the yaoi.

This one is pretty filled to the brim with it.

And no, I don't mean little 'butterfly kisses' or anything like that. While it isn't full on sex between the pair of them, it is a bit of 'intimate' acts.

I changed the rating to 'M' solely because of this chapter and the fact that from this point onward it will get to be a little 'more'.

I think Yuno's going to be very 'jealous'. Anyone else?

Last chance to turn back, mkay?

-Rachel

* * *

He skipped school after the previous encounter, he needed a little time to think to himself about the previous events unfolding in his life. For the first time in a long time his mother saw some of his old habits returning, but he most certainly had a reason to not want to go, and she wouldn't push him. It was Friday, and the weekend had already come to pass, so it wasn't a big deal, either. His exams weren't for a while..and he rarely stayed home anymore. "Feel better." was all Rea Amano could say to her son, smiling down at him and ruffling a bit of his already messy hair, before turning and leaving his room.

Sighing, Yuki resorted to going on his game console once more. His friend most certainly wasn't going to be on- he never was anymore...so why did he hold out hope that he was? Out of boredom, (and as no one he really spoke to was online) he switched his 'status' to online, surprised as he received a message almost instantly from Akise. _Someone's skipping school. _At that, he cracked a bit of a smile, _Yeah, well..we can't all be model students like yourself. _Every second he waited for a reply seemed like an unwelcome eternity. _Ah, but who said I was the 'model student'? Who knows- I could have been lying about what we've spoken about for the past few years. _Yuki's brow furrowed as he studied the message, _No, you couldn't have. Lying to me? I don't think you'd have the courage. _

_Maybe you're right. I mean, I did live through seeing how you dealt with that one old 'friend' of yours. What was her name again..? Sakura? Suzuna? Subaru? Something starting with 'S'_. Yuki vaguely remembered that encounter, from an old 'friend' of his who decided to go off on him for no reason. That had the idea of lying to him, because he was naive and would believe almost anything a person told him. _Spirant. _He corrected Akise, inviting him to a party- surprised when he didn't instantly join like he usually did.

_No can do. Busy. _A vague 'reply' to Yuki's invite, he never refused him. Never once in 4 years had he ever _refused _to join his parties, and now- all of the sudden..? Was it because of his ex-friend, that befriended Akise out of jealousy and decided to hate him all these years because of that fact? He was sort of prideful in that situation, how Akise had admitted he usually always put Yuki first- well 'Misaki' first in any given situation. _You're busy? Somehow I doubt that. _A simple, and to the point message.

_Doubt all you like, but it is the truth. _Yuki frowned immediately at the messages he was receiving. They were vague, and almost as annoying as getting the reply of 'k' to something really wordy or you yourself put a bit of effort into. _Doing what, exactly? _He was starting to feel insecure at this point, had his longtime 'friend' finally decided to abandon him like everyone else had? Well, they didn't 'abandon him' so much as he snapped over the tiniest thing and said 'goodbye' to that particular individual.

_Socializing. A bit of studying and of course a little detective work. I have to go. Nice 'talking' with you. _At that, his heart sank. Yuki didn't bother sending a reply of any sort, instead he felt like pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them there, while crying like a child. The one friend in this world he didn't want to leave him, had all of the sudden been 'too busy' for him. Not to mention the fact that there was someone at school who was far too interested in him at the very same time. Both of them shared the same name, but they were different. He didn't even know what this 'Akise' looked like, on the console, but the other in real life was oddly strange, and stood out. Instantly liked by others; but his only interest seemed to be in Yuki. And all Yuki could think about when he thought of the other male- was his hot breath, mere moments before he kissed him. The way that he stared, affectionately(?), amused (?), teasingly(?) at him, in a way he didn't do so much to others. At first- he was absolutely afraid of the given situation, and who wouldn't be? Suddenly finding yourself kissed by the same sex, barely even knowing said person..everytime you bumped into them you were kissed? A shudder went through Yuki's spine as he thought of the second encounter, when he'd opened his mouth further, to ask what exactly was going on- and what Akise was thinking..only to be 'rewarded' by a kiss that felt so strange..yet good.

_Good.._? Was he going a little crazy? Their third encounter was a little worse for ware.

"Yukiteru?" Akise asked, a bit surprised, as he found himself led away to a more secluded area, people stared for fleeting moments, wondering if the two were quarreling over something. As Yukiteru was head of the art department, and Akise of the sports division were 'natural enemies' as neither side tended to get along. "Where are we going?" _he's ignoring me..._"This lunch break is getting a little shorter, and I should be getting to the sports room.." he trailed off, by way of giving himself an exit. It wasn't as if he wanted to leave Yukiteru's side, it was just the fact that his duties were a little more important at the moment. Yuki glanced back at Akise, not bothering to say a word, before he 'pinned' Akise to the wall. Confused, the white-haired boy stared at him with a questioning look. Was this about yesterday, or the day before? "I suppose I should apolo-" Akise was cut off by Yuki kissing him. It was a haphazard, and sloppy 'kiss' of sorts, his teeth knocked against the other males. _He doesn't have much- or any experience at all in this department, I assume..? _"Is this your 'revenge' for yesterday?" Akise asked, with an amused smile.

"N-no.." Yuki admitted, embarrassed as his cheeks flushed, while staring at Akise, he averted his eyes for a moment, before looking back up at Akise.

"You're curious, aren't you?" Akise asked, "No experience..I could teach you." he said, reversing their positions so Yuki was against the wall this time. "That is- only if you want me to." Yuki didn't bother saying a reply, instead he nodded. Akise couldn't resist Yukiteru, he was always just so..timid, shy and utterly irresistible whenever they were alone. Leaning in closer, he decided to start off a little differently from before, he undid the first button of Yuki's collar, loosening his tie so it was out of the way while he bit and sucked on the exposed flesh, giving him a 'kiss mark'. But to anyone who saw the hickey, they'd know what it meant. From the sound he heard slip out of Yuki's lips he definitely liked the gesture, so Akise went a little bit further. His hand slipped down Yuki's pants, and tugged gently at first, and then a bit faster and harder. Yuki began to gasp out loud, huffing as he enjoyed every sensation that ensued, until his release. It was at that point that Akise withdrew his hand and studied it vaguely, looking at the dripping white fluid before wiping it off of his hand.

"What about...you?" Yuki asked, reaching out his hand, only for Akise to grab it.

"I'm fine." Akise smiled coolly, "And I don't let myself be touched so easily."

Yuki paused for a moment, "I-"

"Yukiteru.." Akise cupped his cheek, smiling softly.

"I see." Yuki said, as if nothing happened, stepping back, "I have to go. Later." he walked out of the room, hearing the vague call of 'Yukiteru' behind him, but he was hurt by that reaction.

Thinking about it now; didn't help anything. In fact- it just made him crave his touch again. Resolving to 'relieve' himself, he grabbed one of his magazines, and attempted to do the deed, only to find it didn't do anything for him anymore. Casting it aside, he resolved to shutting his eyes and trying to think of things that would arouse him, to his surprise; none of the usual things worked. That is- until he began to think of _that _encounter, his strokes weren't as fulfilling as being touched by Akise himself, but he made due. Shuddering once he finished, he looked for something to wipe himself off with, using readily available tissue from his bedside table (his mother didn't bother on asking), he discarded them in the nearby waste paper basket.

The rest of the day dragged on relentlessly and heavily uneventful, he walked downstairs and answered the door once he heard the doorbell ring and knocking at the door. "Coming!" he called, opening the door, surprised when he saw Akise staring back at him.

Akise chuckled, (borderline snorted) when he saw Yuki's current condition. "'Sick' I see." he mused, "You look like you've had quite the day; skipping classes."

"W-why..are you here?" Yuki asked, he didn't try to sound at all happy to see the other male.

"I brought your homework over. Everyone suggested I do it, since Gasai wasn't at school today, either- and I was one of your 'closest friends'(?) even though we've only known each other for a small amount of time." Akise explained, "May I come in?" he asked.

Yuki was about to refuse, when he realized he was home alone- he could really use the company. "Sure.." he stepped out of the way, shutting the door as Akise stepped past him.

"Sorry for the intrusion." Akise said, taking off his shoes, "Your homework." he explained, handing over the papers from their varying classes, and notes.

"Got it." Yuki handed the notes back almost instantly. Seeing Akise's raised brow, he explained, "I can remember everything I've seen or heard, except for kanji- so..notes aren't really..necessary."

"I thought I saw you writing down notes in previous classes?" Akise asked.

"Nope." Yuki shook his head. "I don't take notes, but I do occasionally draw in them."

"So I'm not the only one who 'abuses' his notebook. Good to know." Akise grinned, momentarily stopping as he saw how nervous Yuki was around him.

"How about we go to my room?" Yuki asked, motioning to the stairs.

"Sure." Akise readily agreed, following Yuki's lead, and studying his room. "I trust these- kept you busy all day?" he asked, pointing from the varying pornographic magazines and his gaming console.

"N-no!" Yuki blushed furiously, "J-just..that." he said, pointing to the console. He was half-right. "I couldn't even look at those, anymore.." he sheepishly admitted.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with me, would it?" Akise asked.

"N-no..." Yuki was terrible at lying, so he knew he'd probably be found out anyway. His cheeks were hot, and he averted looking at Akise.

"I'm here barely for a few minutes, and you're already like this?" Akise walked over to Yuki, "You know- you can lie; but your body sure can't." he mused, slipping his hand once more into Yuki's pants. He teasingly began to get Yuki off, but stopped in between, "I'm curious; how do you deal with this 'problem' on your own?" he paused, placing Yuki's hand in place of his own. "Of course, if you don't- how long would your current condition last for?" he smirked slightly, as Yuki began to do the motions, even with Akise watching. "You do everything I tell you to, don't you?" he asked, a bit surprised. "It feels good, doesn't it?" Yuki nodded to that statement. "I see. Well- if you're more than capable of doing these kinds of things on your own..then you don't need me to touch you." he stood, and began to walk away, until he felt his sleeve caught.

"Wait-" Yuki stopped him, "I don't. I mean. It _doesn't _feel the same when I do it..it feels better when you do, somehow."

"Looking at me, with that face.." Akise mused, kneeling down, "surely you have a request of me?"

"P-please?" Yuki asked, staring at him in wait.

"Certainly." Akise gave in to his request, he had absolutely no choice in the matter- especially when Yukiteru looked like this. He finished him off in no time, once more wiping off his hand and denying Yuki from touching him. Shaking his head, he smiled coyly, "I have to get going. Important things to do." he said, walking out of Yuki's room, and seeing himself out of his home.

_Why is it just me? Why won't he let me touch him? _"I'm thinking that- like _I'm _the one who _wants _to touch _him_." Yuki scoffed, shaking his head as he tried to get rid of his troublesome thoughts. _Why is everything becoming so difficult? _


	9. File 1: Yuno Gasai

Hurray for side stories!

Who doesn't love a little 'filler' along the way?

Duking it out with a socio/psychopath..if only he knew who he was playing this dangerous game of 'chess' with.

-Rachel

* * *

_**Yuno Gasai  
**_

-Rumors spread of mistreatment at the hands of her 'parents' that went uninvestigated.(Likely swept under the rug due to the influence of the Gasai family that no one dared to make an enemy of.)

-Orphaned by the untimely deaths of her adoptive parents at a young age.

-Amassed fortune of inheritance since the demise of her parents.

-Inseparable(?) from Yukiteru Amano since she joined the same school as him.

-No outside interaction of people besides Yukiteru, save for the occasional classmate (no real interest shown in anyone except for him.)

-A temper that could rival that of any 'Deity's'(?). (Apparently, she despises those in particular who come into contact with Yukiteru and attempt to usurp what would otherwise be him solely dependent on her alone.)

. . .

Curiously, Akise stared at the three blots he'd made on his notepad. In his thinking, he'd carelessly made a small 'mess' on the writing implement. There wasn't much to go on, following the deaths of the Gasai family. Any questioning the police department, (or any other agency for that matter) sent Yuno Gasai's way was refuted by the fact that she 'couldn't remember'. Doctor's said that the girl could have a case of 'temporal amnesia' due to the fact that she had been through such a traumatizing event at a young age. But who would go through all the trouble of 'dethroning' the Gasai family; solely for the purpose of allowing their one and only heir to inherit everything left behind by them? It struck anyone as odd, at the very least- it did him. A few things were starting to not add up in this story, but for now- all he had were his suspicions behind the alleged conspiracy; not enough to act upon but enough for him to (unofficially) reopen the case.

A tape recorder began to record, as he finally filled the silence with his own ramblings. "The only reason I've taken on this case- is for the purpose of finding out the truth. No matter what, I can't let Yuno Gasai figure that out- at the very least...not until I've gotten all of the facts together to prove or disprove this theory I've spun." he paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Some may very well call me 'delusional' in my ramblings and thought process; but others will come to appreciate the fact that I investigate all possibilities. It is very possible that she is incapable of refuting the absolute truth from that day- that for some foreign reason they were unable to find Yuno Gasai from where she hid in her bedroom, while the event occurred...that she was spared their fates- once more, for reasons unknown." studying the evidence once more, he couldn't find conclusive evidence, the Gasai had just fallen off the face of the earth from that faithful day. Noticing he was letting it record without speaking, he continued to ramble.

"These are the facts that I've so far gathered from both my varying encounters; digging of my own, and of course those amassed from the responding officers on that day; The Gasai went missing without so much as a trace, though there was evidence of a fight that had happened between an attacker(s). Their adoptive daughter was left almost untouched, save for a few superficial wounds. Evidence of a break-in, the front door's lock was broken, but no fingerprints could be gathered. No traces of hair, fingerprints and only partial bits of DNA. It would seem that these people, if any- were very 'professional' and no doubt hired hands of someone else, in conclusive evidence supports this theory, we have yet to find out. Yuno Gasai has had a very strong attachment to Yukiteru Amano since this incident occurred. The pair have been in nearly every class together since halfway through their respective freshman years." another pause as he tapped his pen on his notepad in a bit of wonder. "The tragedy that once rung through the town, the pain and pity once shown toward Yuno Gasai has begun to fade. But has time, truly healed those wounds?" at that point he shut off the recorder, and stared at his notes.

Going through the evidence again, he let out a heavy sigh of exasperation, scratching the back of his head. Akise sipped his cold cup of coffee and winced at the confections ice-cold consistency, how long had he neglected it for? In either case, pulling things together for this one would take a little finesse and he was more than prepared to take it on. Some didn't take him seriously, and if he were to solve a 'cold case' such as one of this magnitude, he'd finally get the recognition he was due. Glory was just a side-point, he wanted to prove himself to the other detectives that had a far more impressive tenure than he. Though there was sure to be absolutely no evidence left, he wondered if he should return to the scene of the crime, (in secret) and see if a fresh set of eyes could resolve anything. It was at that point, that he saw an odd patch in the grass. It was discolored, in fact- some of the dirt (a semi-large quantity) seemed to be disturbed. While it wasn't exactly anything for him to be overly worried about, it could be something of interest.

Sliding his chair back, grabbing his tape recorder and jacket, he walked to the door and outside of his apartment. Conspiracies and piecing together essentially only working on theories took it out of a person, but he would pull through it. Checking his phone, he saw he had a message or two from 'Misaki' though when the notifications popped up they said 'Yukiteru' as Akise had it appropriately changed. At first, he wasn't entirely sure he was right- about that theory. But it proved to be true when he received a voice message from an angered 'Misaki'/Yukiteru about him not being on anymore at all. Maybe because it was fun, or provided a temporary bout of amusement, he didn't spoil the fun and reveal the fact that he knew about Yukiteru's alter-ego. Another contributing factor could have been the fact that everytime they met up, they (Akise) ended up doing lewd things.

Finding himself at the Gasai residence, Akise decided to do the unthinkable for one on the force; he just waltzed in. Yuno herself wasn't home, she was visiting Yukiteru as she often did in 'spare time' (or whenever she possibly could). At this point in time it provided the 'distraction' needed for him to conduct his work. Hopping the fence proved to be a little difficult, but he managed to pull it off. Walking to the back of the house, he studied the patch of where he assumed the photo lined up with. It took a moment or two, but it was confirmed to be the patch; very large. No digging permits had been given to the Gasai family, there was no 'pool plans' either. So why was there such a large disturbance in the ground? Small and thin blades of grass grew over the patch, but were of no doubt fairly 'young' in their tenure of growth. There was only one way to figure out why this hole was dug, and _what_\- if any connection to the Gasai it had. Growling caught his attention, Akise looked up to see a fearsome breed of dog, bearing its teeth the pitbull very much meant 'business'.

He retreated slowly, as it moved toward him in about the same pace, it began to alternate between almost barking and growling loudly, Akise took off in a full sprint, it was no doubt not too far behind, he was out of options. Hopping the fence..would he be able to make it? Eying a small broken portion, he made use of it, jumping and using the small 'boost' from the broken wood to hop over, while the dog cried out in annoyance/frustration. His heart was pounding, that was quite the little 'encounter' he'd had. Now, he needed to see about a warrant. There was conclusive evidence, the picture provided a bit more toward his theory. The 'physical evidence' within the photo eluded to something he had seen before in his junior years- where corpses had usually been buried. Some were to naive (in thinking they'd gotten away with these kinds of things) to know what it actually _did _to the plant life and ground when they placed corpses in it. How officers had missed it- if he was right..he didn't know. Perhaps they were bought off- but one thing was for certain; he would figure out the mystery behind their disappearances.


	10. Erotic Yukiteru?

As promised, there is quite a bit of Yaoi in this one as well.

Yuno's a crazy beach.

-Rachel

* * *

The entire school day, Akise felt Yukiteru's gaze on him. Yuno herself was also 'staring' not so much in the manner that Yukiteru did, hers was thoroughly laced with hatred and boring into the back of his head. She clearly hid herself very well in front of Yukiteru, seeing as the boy didn't have a single clue she had such a 'dark side' to her. Sighing softly, he resolved to see what Yukiteru wanted from him as the bell rang for lunch. It was fairly obvious what Yukiteru wanted; but a 'darker side' of himself wanted to hear the request spill from his lips. To see his varying expressions, how curious and adorable they were. An amused smile spread across his face as he glanced at Yuki before walking out of the classroom, he was sure to follow; as was Yuno. The trouble being, how were they to be alone for their 'private' time?

Sure enough, he head a few sets of footsteps behind him, and the muffled sound of Yuno and Yuki bantering back and forth, before she cheerfully exclaimed something of pure joy and ran off. Yuki stammered her name, embarrassed, and Akise couldn't help but to glance over for a fleeting moment. She was hugging him pretty tightly, and her darkened features seemed only to last only so long as their hug continued on for. Did Yukiteru honestly like such a psychopath? At that thought he frowned slightly, walking away. Maybe it was childish; but he wasn't in the mood for a rendezvous of sorts between the pair of them right now. After seeing different kinds of movies, manga and anime (by force, he didn't really care for such things) he knew that on some level at this point he was supposed to stake claim on Yukiteru in a semi-forceful/'loving' manner.

But he _wasn't _his. In fact, he just seemed to enjoy the attention that both of them gave. Yuno definitely had a very strong 'dislike'/hatred gathered for him at this point, as she noticed them spending time together. Akise couldn't help but to wonder how unstable she'd become if she knew what he and Yukiteru had been doing behind her back. It was as if they were exclusive as a couple, there was no announcement, the girl just had a very firm sense of 'mine' when it came to Yukiteru. On some basic level he could understand it- as he too wanted to stake some form of claim on him, for the moment his eyes gazed upon Yuki he felt an instant connection. A level of affection he wasn't familiarized with, being as he had never really felt it with anyone, (save for his parents; but it was a different kind of affection.) but it was a definite 'love'.

Momentarily separated from his thoughts as his phone rang, he answered it discreetly in a closed off space where he knew no other students would be roaming around, and he was sure not to be scolding by the odd roaming faculty member. "Hello?" he asked, pausing for a moment as he waited for Keigo to respond.

"Regarding the matter of the Gasai case, we've reviewed your request..and we've decided to-" Akise barely had the time to listen, as he looked over in time to see Yuno wielding a knife.

Having ducked her attack, he smugly smiled, "I'll have to call you back." he said, shutting his phone "Lovely of you to _cut in _like that."

Yuno wasn't amused at all, "What are you doing snooping around my family?" she asked, a 'warning' slash sent his way.

"You didn't like my pun?" Akise asked, still overly amused about the current situation. "I'm solving a mystery that has lain dormant for a little too long. While we would have _loved _for you to assist in the matter; it would seem your memories have conveniently been 'corrupted', no?" his tone held a bit of an accusing distinction to it.

"You got too close to Yukki- and now..you're trying to invade my personal world, as well?" Yuno asked, in her 'sweet' voice, before looking up at him, an 'innocent smile' flashed his way, before she dashed forward and slashed at him once more. "Now die!"

* * *

Yuki was sure he'd seen Akise wander to the student council room, but found himself confused to see the empty room. Nonetheless he sat in the room, and attended the surprise meeting (he'd totally forgotten about it, so it was so much a 'surprise meeting' as his own negligence.) The treasurer discussed varying budgets/ran them by the Class President, the heads of each division pitched their own ideas about what they should do for 'spirit days', etc. Yukiteru was ultimately given the job of 'secretary' having to copy everything down in notes was a bit tedious but it was afterall his job. "How's this?" he asked, showing off his form to the Class President, who promptly checked it over.

"Well done. But you know you do have to change the title of this into kanji form, right?" he asked, his eyes looming over Yukiteru for the moment.

"It's alright- the computer does it automatically, so it's no big deal." Yuki smiled.

"The computer? Well, it's free right now if you want to use it. It hasn't been running so smoothly as of late." he explained, a semi-concerned look.

"It's the software update, all you have to do is downgrade it and it works like magic. Sometimes it's worthwhile to update these things, others it's more troublesome until they work out all the bugs." Yuki explained, walking over to the computer and removing the newest update on the word program.

"You certainly do know your way around these things." he praised, watching Yuki work.

"I spent a lot of my time around electronics, and you do learn a thing or two just tinkering around." Yuki said sheepishly, a small form of pink on his cheeks for being praised. Left to his own work, he printed out a few sample sheets and tweaked them to each members liking for every division/club they were mediated for. It took a little doing, as some were more demanding then most, and while he didn't have much to work on (for some clubs who honestly didn't care) he did need to spruce it up and make it seem a little more professional rather than some words splashed across the page. All in all, he did enjoy his job on the council.

"Great work, Yukiteru." he was clapped on the back of his shoulder, as the Class President smiled at him, "I'd say this meeting has been very successful, everyone remember that a week from today we're to meet up again." he addressed everyone in the room, before taking his leave.

Yuki shuddered slightly, he wasn't used to physical contact outside of Akise anymore, really. Everyone left the room, and he slumped against the wall, sliding to the floor. "What's wrong with me..?" he asked, head in his hands as he felt on the verge of sobbing. Why was this year so confusing for him? Friends...? Love interests? _Doing lewd acts with another boy..._he mentally slapped himself for thinking that one. His face burned at the very thought of Akise and himself. Speaking of- where was he? The bell was about to ring, and when Yuki finally composed himself enough to leave the room, Akise was nowhere in sight. Yuki made his way to class, wondering if they'd bump into each other again. When he looked up, his eyes went wide, "Akise..?"

"Oh. Hey, Yukiteru." Akise smiled, seeing Yuki's reaction to himself.

"Y-you're bleeding!" Yuki pointed to his hand.

Akise looked down at the wound, studying it as if this was the first time he'd heard of or seen it. "Ah, I guess you're right." he said casually, looking back at Yuki.

"Well come on! Let's get you to the nurses office!" Yuki didn't bother waiting for a response, and took Akise's good hand, leading him to the infirmary.

"It isn't that serious, Yukiteru." Akise reasoned with him, as the bell rang for their third period. "We're both missing class." he tried to pull his hand free of Yuki's grasp, only for Yuki to hold on tighter. The look he shot Akise made him immediately stop struggling.

"It's pretty bad- and pretty deep. It's not 'nothing' so stop trying to play it off as if you're not hurt. Yeah, you may be 'tough'..but you're not invincible." Yuki reasoned.

Akise was surprised when he saw Yukiteru tearing up over something so trivial as him bleeding. But he was right- he was downplaying the extent of his injuries just to make Yukiteru not worry. The palm of his hand was almost overflowing with blood, and the only reason that it was 'almost' doing that was because some of it was slipping through the slits of his fingers onto the floor. Hardly sanitary, and probably going to infuriate a janitor. "You're right." Akise reasoned, looking into Yuki's eyes, smiling as he walked through the doors with him, an alarmed female nurse began to instantly grill him with questions.

"This is a very deep laceration. I'll drop the issue- for now. But don't think you're off the hook, mister. If this was an attempt at self-harm we take that very seriously." Ms. Kazama warned, as she 'emptied' his hand into the trash bin, once again- hardly sanitary at all but who was he to question her? Using gauze, and a small amount of disinfectant, she paused "This is going to sting a little bit- ready?" when Akise nodded, she dabbed it on gently, he winced and his hand jerked slightly.

"Be careful!" Yuki called out, surprising all three of them.

"It's fine, Yukiteru." Akise reasoned, putting on a smile, the small dose of pain from the disinfectant this time around didn't hurt quite as much so he didn't flinch at all.

"Hardly 'fine'- but we're going to have to deal with that residual blood." Ms. Kazama stated, bandaging his wound carefully and tightly, small burst of red began to show through, until she put on a few more layers and bonded it together with medical tape. "It isn't the orderlies problem to deal with this- unfortunately; but mine. Amano would you mind staying here with the convenient amnesiac?" she asked. "I'll write you both notes to excuse the absence from class."

"Sure." Yuki readily agreed, before she smiled and nodded, walking out of the room.

"Crying for me.." Akise mused, he didn't think the pair of them were left behind 'coincidentally'. "You know..you're just too cute, Yukiteru." he said, cupping the other boy's cheek.

"I wasn't!" Yuki protested, a bit embarrassed at having been caught crying over something like this.

"You were worried for me." Akise said, correcting both of them, staring back at the boy who was looking at him curiously. The blush on Yuki's face was so adorable, even in his injured state he couldn't help himself, he leaned forward and kissed the boy.

"No.." Yuki murmured in between kisses, "This isn't- you're hurt." he pulled back and refrained from doing anything more.

"I'm fine now. And though you may say 'no' your body most certainly says otherwise." Akise said, pulling Yuki closer once again, shutting the curtains around the bed, even one handed he managed to undo Yuki's pants fairly well, slipping his uninjured hand in his underwear.

"D-don't.." Yuki protested again, his face growing redder in tint as he let out an involuntary moan.

"How could I stop when you're already like this? I'm not that cruel." Akise shrugged off the idea, as he slowly began to tug, silencing Yuki for the moment. It wouldn't be long until he reached his climax, Akise had actually figured out when it was about to happen when he studied his face. That- and the fact that Yukiteru didn't tend to last long in his grip. Yuki shuddered, and Akise felt that familiar moisture, wiping it off on a kleenex. "Feel better?" he asked, stopping Yuki's hand when he saw it reach for his pants. "I thought we had an understanding about this..." he mused.

"Why won't you let me touch you?" Yuki asked, his lip quivered slightly as his eyes teared up, "Please let me touch you!" he pleaded wholeheartedly as a few tears fell.

He was honestly so cute when he cried, Akise couldn't possibly refuse him. "When you ask like that..how could I dare say no?" he asked, obliging as he allowed Yuki to sloppily undo the button of his jeans, and lower his zipper. Everything he did from this point on was most definitely just him trying to figure out the basic 'mechanics' of things. The way his hand had a firm grip that was too firm and caused Akise to wince slightly, but Yuki noticed his reaction and relaxed it slightly. After every movement he made, his eyes always studied Akise's face to see if he was doing well- and while it was enjoyable to the white-haired boy, the constant 'start' and 'stop' motion killed the mood. "You're pretty terrible at this." Akise chided, an amused smile as he watched Yuki struggle.

"T-that's because..you promised to teach me." Yuki argued slightly, his flushed face made it clear he was severely embarrassed. But he definitely wasn't going to give up.

"If you continue to touch me like this; this is never going to end." Akise conceded. Yuki looked up at him, contemplating something for the moment, until he released his grip and pulled his other hand away, before taking it into his mouth. Akise hadn't been expecting that- his breath hitched for the moment as he felt the alien sensation. A hot, slick and pleasurable feeling that only seemed to intensify, as Yuki continued the action. Surprised at his own problems of 'holding back' at this point, he tried to stop before he came, pulling Yuki's head back, only for a portion of his face to be covered in the sticky white fluid. Yuki's face was one of pure surprise, as he touched it, staring in awe. "Doing something like this, while still being like that down here.." Akise mused, fixing his pants as he touched Yuki in the same place. "Would you like me to do the same for you?" he asked, Yuki nodded. "Trade spots with me." he instructed, bending on his knees as he once again undid Yuki's pants.


	11. I love you, goodbye

Just as Akise finished 'servicing' Yuki he heard the footsteps of the nurse, and pulled the curtains open once again, after they had settled he realized he still had the 'fluid' in his mouth. A quick glance over of the room revealed he had nowhere to empty his mouth, but he didn't dare to swallow. Ms. Kazama came back in and stared at the boys, looking at Akise's hand, there seemed to be a bit more blood seeping through the bandages. "I thought it went without saying you weren't to use or flex that hand." she said pointedly, "It won't heal if you keep reopening the wound like this."

It was at this point that he realized he would have to do the absolute unthinkable- he had to swallow it. Anything that seemed out of the ordinary would just make her to assume something had been going on between the pair of them. Yuki watched Akise, his cheeks flushed as he watched his Adam's apple bob up and downward indicating he had swallowed. Averting his eyes, he didn't quite know how to react to that kind of situation. Someone had swallowed his..it was..he'd have to remember to apologize profusely to Akise later on for what had just happened. "My apologies." Akise said, with an 'innocent' smile as if nothing happened. While he'd have to admit it did have an odd taste to it- it wasn't as if it was unbearable..and it was Yukiteru's so it didn't really matter.

"I'm _sure _that you actually mean it." Ms. Kazama said, her voice laced with a small bit of sarcasm. Judging from the redness on Yukiteru's face she knew something had happened between the pair of them but didn't feel the need to ask anything more. "You'll need to get antibiotics and to change the dress on that daily." a pause, "Where'd you get the wound from?"

"Done, and done." Akise readily agreed, stopping short when she asked him once more. "Doing confidential work."

"'Confidential' meaning?" Ms. Kazama wouldn't let up on him.

"Detective work. Something I don't exactly plan on ruining my reputation for by revealing certain key facts to civilians." Akise added, she seemed to be annoyed by that fact. "If that's all I think I'll be going now." he said, hopping off the bed.

"I'm calling your parents." she said sternly.

"By all means." Akise welcomed it, "It saves me the trouble of doing so in person. Yukiteru- it appears class is done for the day, how about we just go home?"

"Uh..yes." Yuki agreed, standing and walking past Akise, out of the infirmary. Akise noticed her continual stare, but he walked off nonetheless. Things were becoming a lot more 'heated' between he and Yukiteru, and he wondered just where this relationship of sorts could be going. "I-I'm sorry.." Yuki said, interrupting his thoughts.

"And what are you sorry for, Yukiteru?" Akise asked, grabbing his things from his locker.

"W-well I'm sorry for...what happened back there." Yuki hurriedly explained, grabbing his belongings as well.

"About me having to swallow your unborn children? Thanks for the concern." Akise chuckled slightly, noticing how much redder Yuki's face became at that statement. "It's nothing to worry about Yukiteru."

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked, a little uncertain of it all.

"Mine landed across your face unintentionally; I should be apologizing to you." Akise said, chuckling again as he remembered what had happened a few hours prior.

Yuki froze, he'd completely forgotten about that. His face immediately went red all over once again, "I...have to go." he said, deciding to go off on his own.

Akise could tell he was highly embarrassed, so he let him go. There was still the matter of having to settle things with Yuno. A quick review of his cellphone revealed he had a voicemail left by the police chief, saying that the warrant had been acquired and the digging was to begin today (earlier), to call him back when possible. The next was a little more harshly worded, indicating he should once more call at his convenience. Akise hit 'redial' and waited as it rang a few times, "Hello!?" Keigo grumbled, clearly irritated.

"I was a little...tied up." Akise said, in a beat around the bush 'apologetic' way. "Regarding the Gasai residence- did the digging begin?"

"It did. And you're not going to believe what we found back there." Keigo said, a little less irritated this time around.

"After my little scuffle from earlier today- I'm ready to believe just about anything.." Akise trailed off, Yuno was most definitely unstable, and whatever they unearthed in the backyard would only help to prove his theory.

"You should get over here and see the fruits of your labor, Aru." Keigo instructed, "We've officially got a homicide case on our hands."

_Homicide. _That word instantly caught his attention, "Then..I suppose you've found them, the Gasai family?" he asked. While he was 'proud' in a sense his hunch had been correct, he was also a little bit concerned. Yuno Gasai...what would she do to Yukiteru if she knew what was currently happening? Who was to say that she didn't? For now, he had to put his thoughts to rest and follow through with going to the Gasai residence.

* * *

Yuki was alerted to the sound of crying. "Y-Yukki!" Yuno called, her hands covering her eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Y-Yuno.." Yuki stared at her, what was wrong? "What happened?" he asked, overly concerned.

"Aru...he..he attacked me!" Yuno said, her voice shaky.

"What?" Yuki asked, trying to make sure he'd heard correctly.

"Look!" Yuno showed him varying signs of an altercation, cuts, scratches and bruises.

"Akise did this?" Yuki asked, a little dumbfounded, "Why?"

"I don't know- maybe he was jealous, Yukki?" Yuno suggested.

"Jealous?" Yuki asked, he didn't really clue in as to what she could mean by that. "What would he be jealous of?"

"You and I." Yuno didn't hesitate to reply with that statement, "How we were going to get married and live out the rest of our lives together."

"Over something so silly?" Yuki asked, pausing for a moment to study her wounds. "I didn't think him to be the kind of person to do this kind of a thing.." he commented, "Do they hurt?" he didn't dare to touch them, but he wondered how bad they'd be if left untreated.

"Silly?" Yuno asked, wincing as if she'd been backhanded across the face at that statement. "Yes, they do.." she whined, "He's dangerous! He's working with the police to put me away! They're going to say I murdered my family!"

"Your parents?" Yuki wasn't sure what to believe, "Working with the police..?" he knew of his varying 'detective works' as Akise termed them to be, but he didn't think he was working with dirty cops. "I should ask him.." the moment that phrase fell from his lips, the world turned black. It faded away all at once, and once he regained consciousness, he found himself bound to a chair, stripped only to his boxers. "Y-Yuno..?" he called out her name, it was fuzzy but she was the last thing he remembered.

"I'm so glad you could remember me, Yukki." Yuno's voice was monotone, neither filled with love, hate or any other residual emotion. "After spending so much time with that boy..doing those lewd things..tell me, Yukki- did I just disappear from your mind? Was your world just lost in some boy you barely even know?" her eyes stared accusingly down at him, she herself was wearing little to no clothing whatsoever.

Yuki's mouth opened and shut, then stayed open due to his shock. How did she..did she see them? See what they did? Was Yuno watching this entire time? His mind was filled with all sorts of questions along those lines, he didn't know what to say. "It wasn't that..I forgot about you.." he started to explain, his voice low as he looked to the ground, not daring to look up at the one he 'betrayed' or at the very least that considered him to have betrayed. "Yuno..you're very important to me." he started to explain.

"Save it for later." Yuno immediately shut him down on that statement, "Behind my back, the two of you..doing such things..the only thing left for me to do..is kill him." she resolved, "He's in my way; stealing all of your attention and affections that should be for me and I alone." ranting more-so to herself, she resolved to kill Akise.

"Kill him?" Yuki asked, he was starting to get afraid. Looking around the room, he found absolutely no means of escape. His restraints were very tight, and he couldn't get his hands loose, his legs were also stuck to the chair.

"Hm?" Yuno asked, "Ah, yes. Well, if Yukki likes him enough to do those kinds of things..then I should just kill him, right?" she asked nonchalantly as if she had just asked about the weather. "When you have an obstacle in your way, you remove it and keep moving forward. When I remove this obstacle- we'll be able to move forward from it, okay, Yukki?" she asked in a more cheerful manner this time.

"No.." Yuki shook his head, "No.." he repeated, "Killing someone else is a very serious thing! And I don't think I'd ever be able to get over you killing someone over me." he tried to reason with her.

"Yukki! How could you say such a thing?" Yuno asked, as if she were genuinely hurt by that statement- as if _he _were the insane one. "You could never forgive me over killing someone so small and meaningless in our lives?"

Yuki paused for a moment, how to say this? "..Yuno..I'm different." he said, looking up at her, "For a while- I thought I liked you, too- that your plans of 'marriage' and 'children' seemed to be the best path for me.." he didn't know how to put it. "But I realize- that I was using you, to survive. That I was nothing but a leech hanging onto you because without you, I had no one in this world. One by one, everyone has always stepped away from me, I've been ridiculed time and again..for being 'different'. But you..you were my saving grace, that light at the end of the tunnel that stopped me from giving up. You..and someone else special." even in his situation, he couldn't help but to crack a smile at that. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I'm not good enough for you. You deserve someone who doesn't hold you back anymore."

"You're not in love with me anymore, is that it- is that what you're saying?" Yuno asked, she wasn't at all pleased. But some of his statement had resonated with her, he felt inadequate in her presence? Fine- she'd change it. She'd change herself to be the perfect wife he could ever want- to be the _only _wife he could ever want. "Yukki- I won't give up on you. You're the only one for me, the only one.." she echoed the last bit of her sentence, trying to reassure herself. "Right now- they've probably dug them up.." she mused, checking the time and seeing how late it was.

"Them?" Yuki asked, unsure of what she meant.

"My parents." Yuno answered calmly, "That white haired boy certainly did love to stick his nose in where it didn't belong, after all."

"Did you-" Yuki's eyes went wide as he stared at her, more fearful then ever.

"Kill them? Why, of course I did." Yuno smiled sweetly, "However else would I be free of them?"

Yuki didn't know what else to say, she clearly had lost her mind. Being rejected by someone else made it okay to strip them, and tie them to a chair? Kidnap and tell them that they were absolutely the only person you ever wanted to be with? "Enough!" he shouted, looking up at her, "You have to let me go!"

"No." Yuno denied the request, "You're just going to abandon me and go running to that boy. How about I bring him here and finish it all?" she asked, not waiting for a response, she called Akise. Yuno began to play with her knife as she waited for him to pick up, unbeknownst to her Yuki struggled against his bonds, trying to escape from the chair. It was absolutely of no use- he wouldn't budge at all. "Yukki wants to see you." she said, ending the silence, "Why- we're together of course!" another pause, "I'll tell you where- if you promise to come alone.." in a slightly lower, muffled voice that Yuki couldn't hear she said, "If you don't- what would happen to Yukki and I? In death we could be together..forever."

* * *

"Give me the address." Akise didn't hesitate, writing it down and abandoning the crime scene. He didn't bother to tell any of the police department where he was going, either. Yuno was very unstable, and on the verge of killing Yukiteru over something so trivial. Just how did she manage to kidnap him? He had a decent amount of weight on her, not to mention 'dead weight' made the body even heavier. In either case, he had to bike to the abandoned Gasai building she instructed him to go to.

The sun setting didn't help anything, psychopaths always lurked in the shadows. He stared up at the building, how gloomy and in need of care it seemed to be. The outside was tattered, and he couldn't imagine the inside being any better. Security cameras appeared to be operational, which made it very clear that power was still working in the building despite its appearance. Stepping carefully over any obstructions in his way, he searched around the place, where was the room that she was hidden? Stereotypically the unstable ones usually liked basements in large buildings such as these- even the absolute top of the building seemed to be feasible. But the elevators didn't appear to be in working condition and the stairs seemed a little 'out of order'.

"Yukiteru?" Akise asked, staring as he saw him bound to a chair, walking into the room. Stepping in front of the slumped over male, he shook him gently, "Are you okay?" he questioned, surprised when his head fell off, a small examination revealed that it was just a dummy. She was cunning, he'd give her that much. Walking to the door, it immediately swung shut and prevented him from leaving. Trying to loosen it with shoulder charges didn't help anything, hitting it with any amount of force didn't seem to phase it at all. Reinforced steel, he assumed. The bolts looked brand new- just changed, in fact.

"So glad you could make it!" Yuno cheered.

Akise looked around the room, seeing a security camera, "You hooked up the PA system, just for me?" he asked, feigning a sense of honor. "What a privilege."

"There's lots of things I did here 'just for you'." Yuno said, "Like for instance..rigging up this trap."

"It was fairly well done. You extorted a weakness you knew I had." Akise conceded that fact, "You didn't have Yukiteru in the first place, did you?"

"Wrong." Yuno said flatly, "You just found the 'dummy'." she paused, "He's very much here, beside me in fact. But that wasn't the entire trap- you know."

"There's more? Going through so much trouble just for me.." Akise waited to see what else could possibly happen.

"It's all a part of the show. Yukki gets to watch you die!" Yuno cheered once again, as the room began to fill up with a form of gas.

"Alright..if this wasn't inspired by a comic book of some sort- I don't know what is." mocking her seemed to help the situation momentarily. A quick search of the room (that's all he had on his side, considering it was some form of noxious fume), covering his nose with his hoodie, there was an air duct. It seemed able to come off. Tossing the dummy aside, he put the chair against the wall and ripped off the covering, crawling through to the other side and knocking the other one off. "Amateurs." he commented, it wasn't the first attempt on his life- and certainly not his last. "Yukiteru?" he asked, a little surprised that he was already in the room he wanted to get into.

"She's-" Yuki barely had the time to say that word, as Yuno slashed at Akise once again.

"Too bad it wasn't fatal." Yuno said, glancing at his bandaged hand.

"It bled for a decent bit back there." Akise said, "But no- not enough for a 'killing blow'. Sorry to fail at your expectations."

"Looking for this?" Yuno asked, taunting him as she held the key for Yuki's restraints.

"What do you want in exchange?" Akise asked.

"Your life." Yuno didn't hesitate to answer him.

"No deal." Akise smiled, as the pair began to slowly walk in a circle, "If I die- then what was the point in all this? That's not a deal; that's you getting what _you _want. Have you even bothered to ask Yukiteru what he wants?"

"He wants what I want." Yuno answered grimly, slashing at him with the knife once more.

Akise grabbed her hand and tossed her over him, "That right?"

"It is." Yuno answered.

"You dropped something." Akise grinned.

Yuno looked down at her hand, confused for a moment- seeing the key in his hand infuriated her more. "You won't live to use it!" she taunted, running at him.

"Catch." Akise tossed it to Yuki, as he dealt with Yuno. The pair of them most certainly had training (somewhat) in vague martial arts. Yuno had the more 'karate' approach to things (save for wielding weapons), she attacked relentlessly in the hopes of defeating her opponent. Akise was far more technical, using reversals, counters and her own attacks against her.

Yuki fumbled with the key, using his thigh to bring it closer to his hand. On the verge of slipping off and falling to the point of him being unable to undo his bonds, he nearly cursed then and there. Finally getting it in his hand, he nearly cried out in triumph, but his hand couldn't reach the lock, frustrated, he resolved to lean forward and use his mouth. Biting onto the end of the key, firmly keeping it in place, he tried and failed a few times, on the verge of giving- it finally went in properly and he twisted it, the lock fell off and his hand took the key. Unlocking his next restraint, until all of them were off. Looking over, he saw Yuno on top of Akise, he hand stretched back as she was about to go for the killing blow. Yuki strode over and slapped her, looking up at him in a state of shock, Akise disarmed and shoved her aside. "Yukki-"

"Don't you dare say my name, again." Yuki said, walking to the exit of the room.

One last glance at Yuno, confirmed the fact that her world had just been turned upside down. But he didn't have time for pity, Akise followed Yukiteru out of the room. "Here." he said took off his hoodie and placed it on Yuki.

"Thanks." was all Yuki said, he put it on properly and zipped it up, "I can't go home like this."

"You could stay at my place. You know- when Gasai's in police custody and not about to kill either one of us." Akise said.

"Wouldn't your parents be concerned you brought me to your home like this?" Yuki completely omitted commenting on Yuno.

"They've seen stranger things. And at this point they're likely in bed. Besides, I live alone." Akise pointed out.

"Alone?" Yuki was using the current moment to get over his previous trauma.

"Hang on." Akise placed in a call to the chief of police, a few squad cars were on their way to retrieve Yuno. "Yes. I live alone." he resumed their conversation.

"You only brought a bike?" Yuki asked, he was barefoot and could see himself freezing on it.

"Unfortunately; yes." Akise nodded, "Hop on." he said, sitting on the seat. Yuki complied, leaning forward and holding on tight, as they left the premises. The cold began to make his teeth chatter as they sped away in the night, the police cars passing them, he began to shiver, wondering if he'd get frostbite before they finally reached his home. "We're here."

At that, he perked up, "Thank goodness..." he sighed of relief, hopping off the bike and wincing when he realized he wasn't wearing shoes.

"Hang on." Akise picked Yuki up and brought him to the door, unlocking it and walking inside with him.

"Thanks." Yuki shivered again.

"Cold?" Akise asked the obvious, Yuki nodded. "You could have a bath or a shower or something."

"I'd rather just go to bed." Yuki said.

"My rooms just down the hall, if you want. I could take the couch." Akise offered.

"I don't want to sleep alone." Yuki shut down either or choice.

"Where would you prefer to sleep?" Akise asked, that was all he needed to know.

"I don't care, so long as it's warm." _and with you. _But he didn't bother to say that part. Finding himself led down the hall, he waited to see what was happening next.

"If you want to wear some warmer clothing..here." Akise offered, showing him the varying pajamas he had. They looked practically brand new, as some nights he got home so late that he didn't even bother to change- just to sleep in his clothes. Turning his back while Yuki changed, Akise sat on the bed.

"Thanks." that was all he found himself saying; repetitive gratuities. Laying on one portion of the bed, he stared over at Akise, as his head touched the pillow.

"You're still shivering..." Akise pulled the covers over him, laying beside Yukiteru.

"I'm still cold." Yuki said the obvious.

"Then I'll share my warmth." Akise said, pulling him close. About to say 'thanks' Yuki yawned, instead, falling asleep almost instantly. "Goodnight, Yukiteru."


	12. Mutual love

A really short chapter, but this is the end.

Hopefully it'll be enough to satisfy.

If not, I may just have to (eventually) get around to adding another chapter or two later on.

-Rachel

* * *

Sighing softly to himself, Yuki stared at Akise's empty seat from beside him periodically.. It had been a week since Yuno had 'dropped out' (there were several rumors spreading around each varying about how or why she left school.) and though things were 'peaceful' Akise had next to no time with him anymore. Yuki wouldn't readily admit it out loud- but he did miss him entirely. Every moment the pair of them were apart, was boring and uneventful. Once the bell rang, he checked his phone in the student council room, 'no events' he frowned at that statement. _Life is boring without someone by your side..._he sighed, head in his hands as he looked out the window.

It had been relatively short 'notice' when Akise told him he was leaving- in fact if they hadn't just randomly bumped into one another, he didn't know if Akise would have told him at all.

"Is this right, Yukiteru?" his classmate asked him, showing her math sheet.

Yuki glanced over, "You need to rearrange the numbers, the formula is there but your answer isn't right." he pointed out, "Also, isolating 'x' is something you need to do."

"You're sure smart, Amano. What goes on in that brain of yours?" she asked smiling, though envious of him.

"There goes Aru." their male companion commented, as both Yuki and the girl looked over .

"How rude." she pouted, "He could have at least said 'hi' to us or something."

"I'll...be right back." Yuki said, "Bathroom break." he elaborated, just in case they wondered where he was going. Following Akise, he went into the bathroom, and folded his arms, leaning against the stall door. "You said you'd show up for the student council meetings- you only showed up the once and left."

Akise glanced up at the mirror, before drying his hands. He wasn't startled, making Yuki wonder if he had in fact seen him coming. "I've been busy, Yukiteru." he said, turning to look back at him, "I don't have as much time as you regular course students." he smiled, "Nothing but practice- drills and of course the odd-" he was cut off, as Yuki kissed him somewhat impatiently. As Yuki pulled back, he couldn't help but to say "I won't be at school for a while."

"For how long?" Yuki asked, surprised by the sudden statement.

"A week, likely." Akise said, "There's a tournament coming up and we're practicing fairly hard for it."

"If you lose- you'll be back right away...but you won't do that." Yuki said, stating the fairly obvious.

"That's right." Akise nodded, "We don't lose; and we don't give up." he said with a cocky smile.

"Oh! The others are waiting for me. I should get going." Yuki totally forgot he was studying with his peers.

Akise waved him off, "Go before you're missed. Shoo."

Yuki obediently walked away, _am I just a pet...? _He sat back at that table, "Finally! You're back! That took so long!" his male companion commented.

"Oh, come on! It's fairly obvious _what _happened!" the girl chimed in.

_Wha- have I been found out? _Yuki wondered nervously, "Oh- I get it. He had to go number two." the guy said.

"No- I didn't! Really! I didn't!" Yuki said, his cheeks flush with embarrassment, denying the statement as the pair began to laugh, and he along with them. He didn't see Akise stare at him for a fleeting moment, an expression that practically said 'I'll miss you', though seeing his smiling face was something he enjoyed.

"Yukiteru! You're just in time for the meeting!" the class president praised, "Always on time."

"How could I let you down?" Yuki asked, smiling as he found the welcomed distraction to be just the perfect situation.

"Aru, congratulations on the tournament!" a hoard of girls who called themselves his 'fans' cheered for him. How had they found out the results so quickly..? He flashed them all a smile, before walking off to find Yukiteru. Guessing him to be in the student council room, he went there and stopped short at the door, just about to turn the knob he heard peculiar things. _There's chocolate here, Amano. Feed it to me! Ah. You're acting like a child, Amano. Alright...here. _opening the door, he saw Yuki being fed by the class president the promised chocolate he'd heard about only moments before. To say he was 'jealous' was a bit of an understatement- he was also very concerned about the current situation.

"I like you!" Yuki declared freely, hugging the class president.

"I knew it- he was probably just hungry." one of the female members of the student council declared, laughing slightly at the situation.

"Amano- get away from him!" a male student trying to pry the two of them apart.

"What's wrong? Doesn't Amano usually act this adorable?" another female student asked.

"Yeah- but he's _weird. _He even went so far as to _demand _I have sex with him!" he said, everyone in the room instantly fell silent at that.

"No- this is different; you mean nothing to me." Yuki said, still clinging to the class president.

"Ah, Aru!" the class president greeted.

_Huh...? _Yuki nervously glanced over, to see Akise, from the look on his face he knew that he'd gotten the wrong idea. Akise turned on his heels and left, the door 'clicking' behind him. "Ah- Akise!" Yuki bolted after him, trying to stop the other male from getting away. Grabbing the arm of his sleeve to stop him.

Akise glanced over at Yuki, not saying a single word for what felt like the longest time. "What do you want?" he asked, neither 'cold' nor 'friendly'.

"I think you got the wrong idea about earlier-" Yuki said.

"Give me the keys to the science department." Akise didn't bother to comment on Yuki's comment.

"Ah, here.." Yuki handed them over. Curious, as Akise glanced at him for a moment and began walking, he stopped for a moment when he realized Yuki wasn't following, and sent him a look that said he should most definitely follow. Yuki obediently followed his lead, unsure of what was happening. As he stepped through the newly unlocked door, he was confused as Akise locked it. "Akise..?"

"Yukiteru- how 'friendly' are you with that classmate and the class president?" Akise questioned.

"What do you mean?" Yuki asked, "The class president is very easy to get along with, and works well in his position. The other one? Well..not friendly at all, really."

"But 'friendly' enough for you to ask him to have sex with you?" Akise asked, in a slightly 'accusing' tone.

"Ah- that was..from a while back." Yuki admitted, staring at Akise, "He..I wasn't sure about something, but he turned me down. Nothing happened. I promise." he raised his hands in defeat.

"You didn't lie perchance when you said you were a virgin, did you?" Akise asked.

"No." Yuki shook his head, his face going red at the question. "I haven't..with anyone..besides you."

That part almost made Akise want to smile, but he fought it. Right now was a 'serious' situation. "Good. Then what was that back there in the student council room?"

"Nothing." Yuki said, "Just the usual 'friendly' kinds of things that go on."

"You're a little too 'friendly' with those guys, Yukiteru." Akise frowned.

"They're good friends- but they're not like you." Yuki said, a little embarrassed at what he'd said.

"Not like me, how?" Akise asked.

It was at this point, that Yuki stopped answering. He'd had enough, so he went forward, and tripped Akise, landing on top of him. "Doing these kinds of things.." he said, reaching for Akise's belt.

"Yukiteru- who said it was okay for you to touch me?" Akise asked, staring at him. Yuki stared at him, confused. "We've only just met up and are discussing fairly important things, but all was you want is physical gratification."

"Isn't it you- who made me like this?" Yuki asked, biting his lip as he began to tear up slightly.

"No. That's not true, you've always been like this, Yukiteru. You could have and likely would have done this with someone else, you know?" Akise asked with a smile, seeing Yuki place his head on his chest.

"No." Yuki declined that statement, "Only with you. I couldn't with anyone else." he even tried, but it was all in vain.

"Then beg for it. You do know how, don't you?" Akise asked, cupping Yuki's cheek.

Yuki averted his gaze, "P-please?" he asked.

"What do you wish for?" Akise asked, ready to grant his request.

"I want you to do more- more than you've been doing up until today. Please, do it with me." Yuki pleaded.

"Very well." Akise agreed.

"H-hurts..it hurts!" Yuki whined, feeling the searing pain through his backside, tears fell as he tried to get used to the constant movement he had to endure.

"You like it when it hurts, don't you? You're so cute, Yukiteru." Akise smiled, once they had finished, Yuki hadn't said a word, but his arms were still firmly around Akise in a 'hug' from their seated position on the floor. "Yukiteru? Are you okay? You still alive?" he asked.

Yuki panted for a short while before replying, "So, don't do these kinds of things with anyone but me...I'll be the one to satisfy you, okay? I'm willing to become yours. So do whatever you want to me."

Akise stared at him, "But it's not as if you like me, so it wouldn't be good if you forced yourself to go through this with me-" he cupped Yuki's cheek once again, "But I do find you very cute. And because I like you, I want to bully you more and more each passing day."

Yuki's expression was one of pure shock/surprise as he stared at Akise, the pair of them embraced, _even though I never intended for this to happen..._"I like you, too." his response had surprised Akise. "I wouldn't have been able to do all of this- if I didn't like you." he explained. Akise smiled, grabbing Yuki's face and pulled him closer for a kiss.

How adorable Yukiteru was. The way that he constantly blushed at nearly everything Akise did, and- more importantly; the way that he had declared himself..._his_.


	13. File 2: Yukiteru Amano, Sleepover

"Perhaps one of the more..._interesting _types of people I've met, Yukiteru Amano certainly has a few different 'defining' qualities on his character." Akise paused, fumbling with a multitude of files belonging to his boyfriend, and his history. Though he thought of the term 'boyfriend' in the end, they could be classified as 'lovers' as well, the pair of them hadn't worked out a term to call themselves at this point. Relatively, it didn't matter- the pair of them were content, a psychopath was behind bars..and neither of them bothered with online gaming, anymore. Yuki had even insisted he 'say goodbye' to his online friend, who 'mysteriously' never came back online. "One of those 'qualities' being his ability to seamlessly slip between reality and delusion." though it could be seen as him talking badly of Yuki, in his reports he wasn't supposed to speak with a type of 'fondness' and, also to voice the absolute truths. Emotion and detective work didn't always blend together well. "In his tenure of elementary school he'd been to visit a psychiatrist at the behest of his mother, Rea Amano. She had begun to expect at this point that her son was 'losing grips with reality', that he had made up a dream world wherein his life was made to be something he found it not to be. That he was of some major significance, the details of this are in a sealed documentation of 'Doctor-Patient confidentiality' that not even the local law enforcement are able to open." admittedly, he was incredibly curious of what it was that Yukiteru dreamed up, but he didn't dare ask. How was one to say that they'd done a criminal background check on their significant other? "However, if it were a matter of threat, then I have no doubt he would have likely notified the authorities, or made the proper arrangements regarding the mental health of his patient."

Yukiteru's psychiatrist was a male. That fact quite possibly stemmed from the fact that it was something he was lacking within his at home life, a stable male key figure that could offer guidance and advice that could help to shape his young mind. Forming a 'bond' of sorts with Mr. Bryant, (his psychiatrist was a foreigner, not that Yukiteru seemed to care one way or the other.) they spent nearly everyday within the week together, "During the period that Yukiteru saw this man, he began to improve in certain 'gray areas', namely, school and home life. A bit of his social anxiety began to subside and dissipate from opening himself up to a confidant that he could wholeheartedly trust- without fear of betrayal. However, once their sessions ceased, Yukiteru went back to being the individual he'd been before." pausing, he examined the vague documentation of this, his teachers had all concurred that he'd been bullied throughout every year of his school life, (save for High School, where it seemed he was able to meet a few key figures. i.e. Mao, Yuno Gasai and himself.) purely because the other children perceived him to be 'different'. Seeing the younger pictures of Yukiteru made him smile slightly, he'd been an adorable boy since back then, a small chuckle escaped, before he realized he was neglecting building his 'character file' on Yuki. "His long-time friend had severed ties with Yukiteru in his first year of highschool, it was at this point that he turned to online gaming for basic social interactions that he had been long denied and starved of." a somewhat pang of guilt resonated as he spoke about what had been 'confidential' between 'Misaki' and he.

"It would be at this point, that he would vent out his pent up anger, rage, frustrations through a suitable outlet; online gaming. Establishing a friendship that would last on and off for the better of four years, and opening up to people he didn't find 'real'. Though they were living, breathing individuals, they weren't within his city, didn't know his story- or the fact that he used a false 'name' to speak under." it wasn't uncommon for others to change their identities online, to become something they found 'desirable' to others, as being themselves hadn't worked. So being someone else, naturally, _something _would be different, would it not? Hitting 'pause/stop' on the tape recorder, he stood as he heard a knock at the door. The timid voice of Yukiteru rang from the other side of his front door.

"Akise?" Yuki asked, waiting to see if he was home.

Glancing through the peephole, (though he knew it was Yukiteru) he couldn't help but to smile. "Yukiteru." he greeted, opening the door. "And what brings you by on this fine day?" he asked, barely noticing at all the fact that it was sunny outside. In part, due to the fact that he kept his curtains shut, as it helped him to focus and not be distracted by the varying goings on of outside. Caffeine, dark and artificial light seemed to be the ultimate 'motivators' for him.

"You forgot about why I came today, didn't you?" Yuki asked, a little unimpressed at Akise's memory. Usually, he remembered everything and prioritized Yuki above all else.

"After pulling an all-nighter, making a few phone calls, no sleep..and of course running on only cold, possibly day old coffee, usually has that kind of effect on me.." Akise apologetically smiled, "What is it that I've forgotten, Yukiteru?"

"The reason why I came here.." Yuki blushed ever so slightly, "Y-you said that, well, we were.."

Akise racked his brain for what it was that Yukiteru was talking about, when it finally clicked. "You came over here for a date, and instead find me in this condition. Of course you're annoyed." he chuckled, "Alright, what would you like to do?"

"You seem tired..I can come back some other time." Yuki said, "I don't want to be an inconvenience." it was clear that Akise wasn't in any condition to be going out with him anywhere, and while it left him disappointed, he'd just try again when the opportunity arose for them to go on a date. Of course, those were far few and between. He was busy with student council duties, Akise was juggling being head of the sports division, detective work and school life all at once, while trying to add Yuki into the mix? His dance card was most certainly full.

"But you went through all of the trouble of coming over here, I don't want to just send you off.." Akise said, seeing Yuki starting to leave, he grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside his apartment, shutting the door. "I apologize for the mess." he said, scooping up all of his folders and tape recorder quickly, disappearing for a moment as he placed them in his 'spare' bedroom, which in actuality was his 'study' for case work.

"Sorry...for the intrusion." Yuki felt a bit like he was being a hindrance to whatever it had been Akise had been doing.

"Don't be sorry." Akise chided, "I made a promise I neglected to keep. You can't let me get off easy, Yukiteru. That's how you get taken advantage of." he smiled, "It's not much of a 'date', but, would you like to stay here, for a while?" pausing for a moment, "Of course, you could stay over, if you really want.."

"S-sure.." Yuki readily agreed, "I don't know if I'd be able to stay over for the entire day.." he added sheepishly.

"If you're worried I might try _that_, I don't think I have the energy." Akise explained, walking over to the couch, "I'm tired.." he rubbed his eyes, "Want to try and watch a movie?" he asked, yawning and trying to suppress it halfway through, (failing miserably) it continued to be a lengthy one, at that.

"I could still just go." Yuki offered.

"Or..you could come over here and lay with me." Akise countered, at Yuki's indecision, he pulled him over, the pair of them laying on the couch, he couldn't see Yuki's face, but he assumed that he was blushing furiously. His messy hair tickled Akise's face ever so slightly, "Are you wearing cologne?" he asked, intrigued by the notion that he'd put on a scent, just for him.

"No...this is..what I always wear." Yuki said, though his voice wasn't confident, it was clear he was trying to lie.

"You're always so cute, Yukiteru." Akise said sleepily, but the cologne was very pleasant, he knew his scents, fairly well.

"You're falling asleep, aren't you?" Yuki asked.

"I'm trying not to." Akise said, "Forgive me, if I do?"

At this point, Yuki turned around, to face Akise, he couldn't bother to try and watch a movie, being in this close proximity, the sleepiness of Akise's voice (that he wouldn't admit out loud, but it did make him a lot more attractive.), his thoughts made his face redden, as he studied his.._boyfriends _sleepy face. "If you fall asleep, then you have to..have dinner with me." he said, it wasn't a punishment, but he made it seem like it was.

"So harsh..." Akise chuckled, (though it came out as more of a snort,) a sleepy smile as his eyelids were shut, "You're so mean, Yukiteru.."

"Being unreasonable..." Yuki trailed off, leaning in closer to Akise, his arms wrapped around Yuki. Yuki tried to mirror what Akise did, his eyelids began to feel heavy, as well. "isn't that something you wanted me to be?" he asked, Akise had told him to be a 'little more selfish' with him, but he just couldn't make himself do it. Akise didn't answer, (at least, not in word form) he made a sleepy 'grunt' in the form of the affirmative. Yuki resolved not to bother him anymore, instead, he leaned in closer, his head beneath Akise's chin, as he found himself drifting out of consciousness. He enjoyed being held, (although not admitted out loud) Akise was the only one he relatively allowed himself to be touched by. It was one of the 'terms' they'd come across. In a rather odd turn of events, it had been Yukiteru to address 'cheating'. Explaining promptly, that he wouldn't allow himself to be cheated on, because he willingly surrendered all of himself over to Akise..


End file.
